Hamilton will try a peanut ban at 4 city facilities
Samantha Craggs | CBC News | Posted: June 13, 2016 8:30 PM | Last Updated: June 13, 2016
Hamilton's associate medical officer of health recommended against it
The city of Hamilton will ban peanuts at four of its facilities as part of a year-long pilot project designed to reduce the number of allergic reactions there.
Officials will select four locations for the ban. This comes after Ian and Melissa Thompson of Hamilton said their nine-year-old daughter, Fiona, fears for her life going to CFL games at Tim Hortons Field, and other city events.
I think we've got options to the Snickers bars. - Brenda Johnson, Ward 11 councillor
Ninh Tran, Hamilton's associate medical officer of health, recommended against it. Among the reasons: some people are allergic to dairy, wheat and other foods. If you ban because of one allergy, then where does it stop?
But Sam Merulla, a Ward 4 councillor, wanted to try it for a year. And other members of Hamilton's board of health agreed.
"I think we've got options to the Snickers bars," said Coun. Brenda Johnson of Ward 11.
That's Ian Thompson's thought too. Fiona's allergy is so severe that she has a serious reaction if she comes into contact with nuts.
Three years ago, she was "just cracking walnuts" for her grandfather, he said.
I'm not trying to be unrealistic. I'm talking about finding alternatives to products where the peanuts are evident. - Ian Thompson, father of a daughter with peanut allergies
"Ten minutes later, she looked like someone punched her in the face. Her eyes just swelled right up."
"I'm not trying to be unrealistic. I'm talking about finding alternatives to products where the peanuts are evident. Things you know that have peanuts."
The city's report says from a revenue perspective, its recreational centres and arenas would lose about $26,000 by not selling peanut and nut products.
Dr. Douglas Mack, a Hamilton pediatric allergist and adviser to the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, also says there's "not a ton of data to support restrictions."
"If anything, [a recent Canadian study] shows that the risk my be potentially slightly higher," he told Metro Morning in November. "Having those restrictions gives a false sense of security."
And in schools where peanuts were banned, he said, one per cent of lunches still had them.
Parent opinion isn't unanimous either. Leah Gallo's daughter Maia Santarelli-Gallo collapsed and died in a Burlington mall after in 2013 from an allergic reaction, but Gallo said on Twitter that she isn't sure a ban would help.
More heartening to her is another board of health vote Monday to put epinephrine auto-injectors in 72 recreation and community centres.
The move is an extension of Hamilton's existing program to have Jackson Square mall guards carry auto-injectors. Coun. Lloyd Ferguson says the city has been pushing for Lime Ridge Mall to come onboard. Maia Santarelli-Gallo's death prompted the pilot project.
In Canada, less than seven per cent of people report having a food allergy, the board of health report said. Of those, one per cent have an allergy to peanuts and 1.2% are allergic to tree nuts.
During the pilot, the city will evaluate how it impacts revenue at the facilities, and whether it's allowed under vendor contracts.