<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> To be honest, I'm not convinced that getting rid of this or that allergen for everybody is the way to go on airline flights. There are so many different things that some individuals can die from, it's really impossible to second guess. I think peanuts get more publicity than most because they are such a popular food here in the US, and so it's "newsworthy". Other allergens can be just as deadly for other people, but they aren't so firmly esconced in the US diet. Also peanut butter is such a popular food for children that keeping seriously peanut-allergic children away from peanuts is a nightmare for their parents. So hopefully the publicity on peanut allergy does some good that way. Definitely we need to have good labels and to convince folks that "hiding" things like peanuts or gluten in other things (especially school lunches) is not a great idea. I'm also worried about the genetic engineering of foods that might mix up the situation for allergics. But when a person is so allergic to something, at some point they need to take special precautions on an individual basis rather than just hoping they can get everybody around them to quit using their particular poison. I certainly wouldn't trust an airline to provide a nonallergenic meal for me, for instance -- we really just need to bring our own, especially if any of our allergies are life-threatening. I would focus on getting the airlines to help us store our supplies/prepared meals and heat up anything for us if necessary. It won't kill us to eat simply for the duration - but eating an airline-prepared meal might, if it's not as safe as we think. I have serious problems with various types of artificial fragrances that are in EVERYTHING practically - soap, shampoo, laundry detergent, cosmetics, personal care products and cleaning products, as well as in the more obvious culprits cologne and perfume. When anybody comes into my air space with even just residues of such things (from just washing up, for instance, or wearing clothing that was worn while they were wearing perfume, or when they shampooed a few days ago with one of the "gee your hair smells terrific" shampoos that linger forever...), it affects ME. I'm the one who gets the inflamed lungs, the headaches, the inability to concentrate, the risk of a full-blown asthma attack, etc. etc. etc. If a perfume-wearer handles some paper before putting it into an envelope, it contaminates my whole mailbox and I have to store everything in plastic bags with activated charcoal for a few weeks or hang it up outside.... or just toss it, perfume is so hard to get rid of. If it's something I must work with, I have to get it copied. I wear a charcoal mask when I go anywhere that's a problem (okay, that takes a bit of courage but it's a great conversation starter), and have an "unwelcome sign" on my door to explain to scented friends why they are confined to the porch.... (Local skunks are no problem, ironically enough! Natural odors -- including naturally scented products -- don't do anything at all to me.) So you can imagine the agony on an airplane flight! A charcoal mask wouldn't last long simply because the load would be so great, with such a small volume of air recirculating. The last time I tried traveling by air (before I discovered the joys of charcoal masks), they still had smoking and nonsmoking sections (as though you weren't breathing the same air as the smokers, talk about denial). I got in the very front of the nonsmoking section and away from fellow passengers, but was still laid low by the perfume and cologne that the attendants drowned themselves in before takeoff....It's nice that they got rid of smoking (which was actually a danger for other reasons), but anybody wearing artificial scent of any sort is really doing the same thing -- forcing everybody around them to breathe in their stuff. But I don't expect ever to get the airlines to ban artificial scents for their passengers or even their staff. Besides, nobody who doesn't have the problem really understands what it means to come fragrance-less, they always think that soap etc. or "a little of this or that" or their lipstick or whatever doesn't count. I WOULD like the airlines to provide personal filtering apparatus that would be comfortable to use on a long flight, so people who do have problems (whether with artificial fragrances or peanut dust or gluten dust or whatever) would be able to breathe clean, safe air in flight even though they will have to wash/shampoo/launder etc. thoroughly after landing to get rid of all the contaminants. This makes much more sense than trying to just ban whatever allergen has enough of a lobby group.... and much safer for the allergics, since I personally wouldn't trust my fellow passengers to NOT have peanut dust already on them, if I were that sensitive to peanuts! The air volume in flight is just too confined not to worry. If such filtering apparatus covered the mouth area (which it really should -- also the eyes -- we're talking gas mask here, folks!), of course the folks using it would need to take special measures for eating and drinking. Hey, how about a complete enclosure of a seat when necessary! I'd love it! How Jetsons! If we tout it as an anti-terrorist device (bullet-proof shielding!), we're in.... Anyway, we need to really think in terms of individual protection from our personal poisons. Otherwise it's an uphill battle, and we might get a very false sense of security. The individual approach also could be pushed by a wide range of people with all different sorts of allergies and chemical intolerances, since the same thing would benefit them all. "In union there is strength," as they say! Peace, Cathy Flick [log in to unmask]