<p>OT, but cobrat, I’ve never worked in a perfume-free environment, so I don’t know how it works. Is there a sniff inspection done everyday? Does it apply to deodorants and hair products as well?</p>
<p>cobrat, I’m not trying to discredit what you said, but can you please point us to any references re: employee termination after “testing” perfume bans?</p>
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<p>Doing all those things costs lots of money, resulting in higher taxes and consumer prices, and therefore “takes away” the alternative goods people could have purchased. I suspect the annual cost of ADA compliance is in the tens of billions.</p>
<p>Sorry if I missed it, but where did the 5% peanut allergy prevalence figure come from? </p>
<p>I could only find this, which says the prevalence of peanut and/or tree nut allergies is 1.1%.</p>
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<p>[Prevalence</a> of peanut and tree nut all… [J Allergy Clin Immunol. 1999] - PubMed - NCBI](<a href=“Prevalence of peanut and tree nut allergy in the US determined by a random digit dial telephone survey - PubMed”>Prevalence of peanut and tree nut allergy in the US determined by a random digit dial telephone survey - PubMed)</p>
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<p>If the smell is detectable, that’s a violation and the supervisor would immediately send the employee home if he/she detected it right before the daily early morning 10-minute meeting before we started the workday or a colleague reported it. </p>
<p>And considering how such smells tend to accumulate in many office settings IME at other offices, it doesn’t take long for someone wearing perfumes/colognes/scented products to be detectable…especially in an office where there’s a ban on them. </p>
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<p>Yes. No use of scented deodorants or hair products…especially ones with strong smells. Unscented ones only.</p>
<p>Here’s a more recent update of that information–it’s increased from 3.9 to 5.1%. Also note the repeated use of the word “common” in the text.
[Products</a> - Data Briefs - Number 121 - May 2013](<a href=“NCHS - 404 Error - Resource Not Available”>NCHS - 404 Error - Resource Not Available)
Also, most people do not grow out of peanut allergies, as opposed to other allergies.</p>
<p>And so you’re saying that when you typed the words “they will be fine,” you meant something other than “they will be fine?”</p>
<p>Here is what D’s college says:</p>
<p><a href=“XYZ%20Foodservice”>quote</a> at (XYZ College) makes every attempt to identify ingredients that may cause allergic reactions for those with food allergies. We label items with possible allergen-containing ingredients and every effort is made to instruct our food production staff on the severity of food allergies; however, there is always a risk of contamination. There is also a possibility that manufacturers of the commercial foods we use could change the formulation or substitute at any time, without notice. As well, any self-service area does not have control over cross contamination. Furthermore, we cannot guarantee the absence of cross contamination with our baked goods. Customers concerned with food allergies need to be aware of this risk. Students with food allergies are encouraged to contact our Registered Dietitian or Health Services for additional information and/or support
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<p>Then, for each of the 5 dining halls, they provide a list which shows which one have the following:</p>
<p>Labels identifying common allergens
Icons identifying dietary restrictions/choices (Vegan, Vegetarian, Contains Pork, Contains Shellfish)
Allergen sensitivity station (nuts, dairy, shellfish, gluten)<br>
Signs listing ingredients at point of service allowing individuals to identify items that pertain to their specific allergy
Bakery items do not contain nuts<br>
Ingredient lists are available for breads, cereals and menu items
**Nut-sensitive ** dining hall (there is only one of these)<br>
Halal meat offerings (there is only one of these)<br>
Kosher options (there is only one of these)<br>
Strict vegan/vegetarian options (there is only one of these) </p>
<p>See? There you go. It’s called a nut-sensitive environment. So they are not frisking girls at the door to make sure they don’t have peanut Clif bars in their backpacks.
See how they can make reasonable accommodations – a nut-sensitive dining hall which at least doesn’t offer anything with nuts in it – without all the high drama of “will junior be thrown in the slammer if he has a Clif bar in his backpack” that some of you are envisioning here?</p>
<p>Bay I posted earlier that the CDC estimates the allergy to have a 4% - 6% prevalence in children under 18. Then some other posters averaged it to 5% to use in examples.</p>
<p>I also saw the same study, but I chose to go with the higher estimate from the CDC because I percieved that more posters would be familiar with the CDC.</p>
<p>Could you imagine the intense flaming I would have received if I used the 1% a few pages back ;)</p>
<p>How close was the supervisor allowed to get to the scent suspect? Three feet away? Close enough to invade personal space?</p>
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<p>OT, but Charlie Trotter’s restaurant in Chicago had a thing whereby when you called for a reservation, you were reminded early and often that he had a major allergy to perfumes and scented things, and you were not to wear anything scented to the restaurant.</p>
<p>How can something that a private college or employer does can result in higher taxes? Consumer prices argument - I can buy that, but taxes???</p>
<p>Beliavsky, I hope that neither you or nor any of your family members will ever become old and frail. I hope no one in your family has had to push a stroller up several flights of stairs! Most ADA accomodations in public facilities are not just for people with disabilities. We take them for granted, because they are so ubiquitous in the Western world. When I was traveling to less civilized countries last fall, the lack of ADA type accommodations was very apparent.</p>
<p>Hunt,
That source you linked refers to “food allergies,” not PA in particular.</p>
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So, according to the OED, 10-15% is common, but 5% isn’t? What’s the exact cut-off?</p>
<p>Obviously, it would be nice to have really good data on just how many people there are with peanut allergies, and even better, some idea of the severity.</p>
<p>PG: Why does that not surprise me…</p>
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I know. It was just a more recent version of the info FinanceGrad posted.</p>
<p>cobrat, do they run a GC/MS to have a documented piece of evidence? 
Otherwise, it is Sally’s vs Nancy’s word!</p>
<p>Elementary schools around the country have successfully gone peanut-free. I ask again, why is it that college students can’t live without peanut products?</p>
<p>Informal survey: who here has known more than a handful of people with severe nut allergies in their lives? I have known one with a serious PA (who was able to live on campus at our university), one with a serious tree nut allergy, and a child who started with a number of food allergies and is now down to just peanuts.</p>
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<p>It doesn’t call itself “peanut-free.” “Nut-sensitive” is more ambiguous, to my legal mind.</p>
<p>Hunt this is what I said earlier:</p>
<p>“So, yea if they were in the same room as me and I threw peanut flour in their face or showed peanut butter down their throat it would cause a reaction, but short of that they will be fine.”</p>
<p>The phrase “they will be fine” only applies to the imaginary person in my example in the sense that they would be fine if they were just in the same room as me as I was eating a peanut butter sandwich. That was in response to a poster who kept insisting that people with peanut allergies couldn’t be in the same room with peanuts.</p>