I’m thrilled to report that within one hour of publishing this article on food allergy bullying in schools, I was contacted by Aaron Saltzman, a national reporter for CBC. He felt the topic was of national importance, and we worked together to build a news segment, which aired on Friday January 20, 2012.
Please click here or on the play button on the above image to view the CBC News Video “Allergy Bullying In Schools”. Renfrew, Ontario boy says classmate rubbed peanut-contaminated hands on his shoulder and collar.
Here is the transcript:
It’s sometimes referred to as allergy bullying, kids targeting kids with allergies and harassing them mentally and sometimes physically. It happened to a boy in Renfrew, and as Aaron Saltzman reports, it could have had fatal consequences.
With his severe nut allergy, seven year old Nevin Prevost watches what he eats and always keeps his EpiPen close at hand, but he had no defense for what happened in his grade 2 French class.
Nevin: This boy that stood beside me, he whispered in my ear, he touched me on the shoulder, and he said “I ate nuts for snack”, and I was kind of worried that he did.
It was a classmate who deliberately rubbed what he said were nut contaminated hands on Nevin’s shoulder and collar.
Nevin’s Mother: He came home in quite a panic running through the house and to the bathroom, where I found him scrubbing his face.
Incidents like this are not all that unusual. A recent study published in an American medical journal showed nearly one quarter of kids with food allergies reported being bullied, teased, or harassed because of their allergy. Most of those incidents happened at school.
With the growing awareness of the consequences of bullying, many school boards have started anti-bullying programs along with intervention and prevention policies. But few mention food allergy bullying specifically, an oversight according to allergy awareness advocate [Elizabeth Goldenberg].
Elizabeth Goldenberg: That child who was touched around his collar, he was technically assaulted.
Lawyer Elizabeth Goldenberg has a son with a nut allergy and writes a blog on allergy issues.
Elizabeth Goldenberg: If certain steps aren’t taken by the schools, by the teachers who witness the abuse and by the principals, they could be held liable in negligence for failing to protect.
Nevin’s Mother: In a sense it’s bullying or threatening with a weapon.
The boy who touched Nevin Prevost is too young to be charged with a crime, and it turned out Nevin didn’t suffer an allergic reaction, but the effects lingered.
Nevin’s Mother: For about a month after, he was quite nervous that someone might touch him [with his allergen] and he might get hurt.
All because of an incident he, and may others apparently, never saw coming.
CBC News, Toronto
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