| All her life, Allison Rose Suhy knew she had a food allergy. Most of the time, she took Benadryl and the symptoms went away. Beyond occasionally missing out on a slice of birthday cake or sitting at a peanut-free lunch table throughout school, she lived normally. She had never suffered anaphylaxis — a violent, life-threatening reaction in which the immune system floods the body with histamines that constrict airways and lead to blood vessels leaking, tanking blood pressure. Allison left home for Ohio University in 2017. Hours after her father Michael Suhy kissed her goodbye during Dads’ Weekend that November, he received a call: Allison was having a severe allergic reaction. In the background, he heard the word “CPR” as paramedics battled to save her life. Days later, doctors said the lack of oxygen had led to catastrophic brain swelling too severe for her to recover. Michael Suhy, a veteran first responder and chief of Cuyahoga Heights Fire Department in Ohio, now runs the Allison Rose Foundation to help others avoid his nightmare. When I called Suhy a few weeks ago to ask what steps parents and schools should take, I expected to hear that every option — including school bans and food restrictions — should be on the table. Instead, he told me that bans aren’t the answer. “I understand the theory behind bans,” said Suhy, “but it’s like saying we have fire extinguishers so we don’t have to worry about fires. That’s not true.” He frequently sees major food allergens in vending machines at ostensibly “peanut-free” or “allergy-friendly” schools, Suhy told me. As peanut and tree nut bans have rolled out across America’s schools, they aren’t protecting kids and may even put kids more at risk. Evidence bans are effective has never existed in the scientific literature, said Lisa Bartnikas, an allergist at Boston Children’s Hospital and an assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. Several studies, including her own on Massachusetts public schools, have found that schoolwide food allergen bans have little to no effect on the incidence of allergic reactions. Some self-designated “peanut-free” elementary and high schools report higher rates of EpiPen use, the most effective way of administering epinephrine to stop anaphylactic shock, than schools that don’t make that claim, Bartnikas found. The widespread fixation on peanuts and tree nuts means other serious allergens — milks, eggs, fish and shellfish among others, which account for the majority of food allergies — can get little to no attention. “It feels like it would help, but the data doesn’t support it,” Bartnikas said of restrictive policies like bans. “A completely nut-free school? … I don’t think it’s enforceable.” None of the researchers or physicians I interviewed for this story would endorse broad allergen bans. Parents and school officials can’t police every ingredient that enters campus, so declaring a school nut-free often obscures more than protects, offering a false sense of security. For the youngest children, narrow classroom restrictions may make sense. But measures such as allergen-free cafeteria tables can leave students feeling isolated or bullied without teaching them to manage allergens beyond school or child care centers — where about 90 percent of severe reactions occur. Everyone wants to protect students with food allergies. It’s time to rethink how. See you on Thursday, Michael Coren, Future Coach | 
