Originally Posted by VickiSoCal
From what I have read over the years there are no documented cases of death by inhallation because someone nearby was eating peanuts. It's always by ingestion or by touch. Soemone who ate a peanut gives the person a kiss, or shakes their hand, or the allergic person touches a surface with peanut residue on it and then touches their lips or eyes.
I am very sensitve to allergic issues, my mother has been to the hospital several times due to her allergies to aspirin and to corn combined with asthma and a severe cat allergy. Every time she's had an attack it is because a restaurant employee or well intentioned but uniformed friend told her an item was corn free and it was not. She does not go thru life expecting the world to be corn free but she rarely eats anything now that wasn't prepared in her home or by someone very aware of her situation.
i know of a young girl who died from the smell of food being cooked. the food had nuts in it. it wasn't on a plane, but does that really matter? the point is that it is not ALWAYS by touch or ingestion, and it does not need to be by touch or ingestion.
i don't know of other cases, but i'm willing to bet a quick internet search would turn up many.
if it were my kid, and i made it clear that she had nut allergies, and then somebody nearby opened up a bag of nuts, whatever happened to my kid, i guarantee you that guy would go first.
if just the smell of corn were likely to kill your mother, she would look differently on the situation, and she would go through life expecting people to keep her environment corn-free once she let them know.