Peanuts on Planes Protected

Via CNN, your nutty federal policy of the day:

Packets of peanuts are in no danger of disappearing completely from airplanes. In a nutshell, there's a law protecting them.

Last year, the Department of Transportation asked the public about a possible peanut ban on planes and other measures it said it was considering to address severe allergies among fliers.

…But when the new rules concerning issues from airline fees and bumping to tarmac delays were announced Wednesday, the department said it won't take on the peanut issue because of a 12-year-old law blocking the agency from tampering with peanut policy without more scientific study.

"The Department is prohibited by law from restricting the serving of peanuts aboard aircraft unless a peer-reviewed study determines that serving of peanuts causes severe reactions among airline passengers. There has been no such peer-reviewed study, so we declined to take action at this time," it said in a statement.

I don't know which is more absurd: that there's a law already on the books protecting airplane peanuts from being banned without peer reviewed evidence, or that the Department of Transportation was seriously considering a ban on airplane peanuts. 

Comments

[Joe M]

Looks like an absurdity singularity to me.

[Joe M]

Or like when you point two mirrors at each other.

[iamtheeviltwin]

The absurd thing is that you would even need a law to prevent a banning of peanuts...

although it sounds like the peanut lobby got their money's worth from whatever lobbyist managed to convince a congressman to slip that into a bill.

[Trespassers W]

If we didn't have laws about this stuff, then airlines could just serve peanuts or maybe not. What are you, some kind of anarchist?

[Spiny Norman]

You might not even know until you're in the air and it's too late. And then what are you supposed to do?

[cynical]

Peanuts could be anywhere. If you suffer from peanut allergies, you should probably never leave a special peanut proof bubble.

Or just get an automated epipen augmentation.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Allergies are for the weak. The weak should be banned from airplanes.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

What are you, some kind of anarchist antichrist?

[mad libertarian guy]

Bullshit. Without laws like this we would be just like SOMALIA!

[Episiarch]

Hey, it's where we're at: we need laws to stop the parasite class from banning anything that crosses their mind. I'm serious; we really are at that point.

[cynical]

We have those laws (Constitution, enumerated powers, etc.). We need a means of enforcing them.

[Second Amendment]

Hellloooo...?

[Arcaster]

Sad but true.

[Typical overweight passenger]

peanuts? who gives a rip. just thank gawd ticket prices remain socialistic rather than charge by the pound

[Brett L]

So, the science isn't settled? Tangentally, when did peer-review become the new Petrine Doctrine, giving scientists a way to speak with the voice of God?

[Cyto]

At least requiring a peer reviewed study provides a baseline for some level of rationality. Without that they could just regulate based on "because we think it is a good idea", like the government does in almost every other area.

[rac]

I'm allergic to cats. They let cats on planes. I'm not crying about it. I would ask to be moved if they were right next to me, but otherwise, I live with it. If you are so allergic to peanuts that you might die from contact, then don't get on planes.

[cmace]

Last time I flew the stewardesses went down the aisle before the plane took off making sure no one had peanuts or anything with peanuts.

[Aresen]

Good to know Shrike wasn't on board.

[Episiarch]

shriek isn't allowed to fly; he can't stay in his seat for longer than five minutes.

[SugarFree]

He has to run to the bathroom that often to wipe off the foam.

[Comedian]

What's the deal with airplane peanuts? Am I right or am I right?

[Brett L]

How long before someone aerosolizes peanuts and hijacks a plane? The TSA needs to be in on this. We need a 3 mile exclusion zone, just to be sure.

[Al Kyda]

Curses!

[sarcasmic]

Enough is ENOUGH!
I have had it with these motherfuckin' peanuts on this motherfuckin' plane!

[sevo]

I thought I clicked "Reason" and got "The Onion" instead.

[VungRee]

LOL, OK thats pretty funny when you think about it.

http://www.complete-privacy.au.tc

[West Texas]

I'm 37 years old and I have had a pretty severe peanut allergy all of my life. Let me tell you, there is nothing more uncomfortable (and potentially dangerous) than being locked in a tube of recycled air and peanut dust and residue everywhere. I've had to pull out the Epi-pen on planes on two separate occasions in the past and I always at least have some benadryl on me whenever I fly.

So I appreciate the airlines that don't serve peanuts anymore and are sensitive to people like me.

That said, there damn sure shouldn't be a law. (nor should kids in school be forced to forgo PB&J at lunch, either). People just need to deal with it and not expect everyone else to accommodate them.

And, FWIW, peanuts are one of the many reasons I don't fly Southwest Airlines unless I am absolutely desperate to get somewhere for work and have no other options (the other reason is that I prefer not to be treated like a cow in the first grade lunch line).

Otherwise, I just fly Continental or United and they serve pretzels. This is how the free market is supposed to work: alternatives and options.

[Charlotte Sometimes]

Agreed! My youngest son has severe peanut/tree nut allergy. We have only needed to fly once since his birth and we just chose an airline (Midwest) that did not serve peanuts. Problem solved. And we'd never demand that other kids wash out their mouths, etc., at school. He sits at specific place in the lunch room (no sack lunches at that half of the table). He's been taught to wash HIS hands and keep them out of his mouth. I send a safe snack for him on "birthday treat" days and I pick him up and take him somewhere fun on class party days, that way everyone can have fun and eat what they want. Parents have been very understanding and helpful, probably because we have not been demanding and obnoxious.

[Kat]

This is easily solved. Just after boarding was all done on a flight I took a few years ago, the flight attendants announced there was a passenger with a severe nut allergy on board, and that all passengers should hand in anything with nuts or risk having the plan diverted for an emergency landing. Plenty of people handed over cookies, nuts, etc, and the flight was otherwise uneventful.

So, you know, just speak up. No one wants a medical emergency.

[Bohica]

Hand in anything with nuts? Huh? Why would it be necessary to confiscate them rather than simply ask people not to open them on the flight? Anyone willing to hand it over would certainly be willing to refrain and anyone not willing to refrain certainly isn't going to hand it over. Sorry Kat, but that story makes no sense.

[Himmler Airlines]

Hand over your Jews.

[Auntie Semitic]

Works for me!

[Kat]

No flight attendants actually walked the aisles looking for nutty contraband, doofus. They asked passengers to turn it over in an effort to prevent a medical emergency that would have sucked for everyone on board. If some one with a sealed Reese's kept it sealed and this didn't cause a problem, great. If, and it's possible, the passenger with the extreme allergy had a reaction thanks to your sealed candy and you ended up diverted from your destination with your plans all fucked up, how would you feel? Like a moron for not listening to the (completely optional) good advice of the attendants?

Also, wow, really? Still no need for laws, just good common sense.

[Gregory Smith]

Here's my message to MINORITIES with problems aka "special needs."

Dear minorities, life is tough, ADAPT or DIE.

There. That should do it. 😉

Not much Southern Hospitality for Limousines.
http://libertarians4freedom.bl.....y-for.html

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Well they should be banned. I mean, you could use peanuts to hijack an airplane. Don't laugh! I mean, think about it - if the pilot has a severe peanut allergy, some terrorist just has to barge into the cockpit, wielding his fistful of peanuts. Just imagine how hard it is to land a commercial airliner when you're in anaphylactic shock.

You want peanuts? HA! You should be glad they let you have a SEAT. Before long, you'll just be herded into an empty aluminum tube and told to lie down in a heap, and you'll be stacked four deep. And if you complain, the TSA will know for sure you're a terrorist.

[Department of Transportation]

I don't know which is more absurd: that there's a law already on the books protecting airplane peanuts from being banned without peer reviewed evidence, or that the Department of Transportation was seriously considering a ban on airplane peanuts.

Jimi Hendrix created a whole new way of puppeteering for children and adults to enjoy and now his kids continue his legacy.

[Fappy McFee]

Is there a law already on the books protecting, oh, masturbation, from being banned without peer reviewed evidence?

[sarcasmic]

Would have been better if the picture was one of the airline safety fliers from Fight Club.

[EscapedWestOfTheBigMuddy]

::shrug::

It's not like I'm voluntarily getting on a commercial flight anytime soon.