Fear of nuts creating hysteria of epidemic proportions

A peanut on the floor of a school bus leading to evacuation and decontamination for fear that it might be eaten by the 10 year old passengers, and schools declaring themselves “nut free” by banning nuts, peanut butter, homebaked goods and any foods without ingredient labels, are just some examples cited in this article. According to Professor Nicolas Christakis from Harvard Medical School, there is no evidence that any of these extreme restrictions work better than more circumscribed policies or that they are worth the money and disruptions they create. In comparison: In the US, 150 people die each year from food allergies. This is compared to the 50 who die from bee stings, the 100 who die from lightening strikes, the 45,000 who die in motor vehicle accidents, and the 10,000 who are hospitalized for traumatic brain injury from playing sport. But these issues do not incur such extreme reactions, such as calling for an end to sport. Christakis says that the “gross over-reaction to the magnitude of the threat” is very similar to mass psychogenic illness (MPI), previously known as epidemic hysteria. Comment: Maybe the fear is for lawsuits engendered by tort lawyers for whom there is nothing that does not lead to a law suit. WE are focusing on the wrong nuts!