Banning nuts from the skies would not keep people with allergies safe | Letters

Alison Smith says food bans do not improve compliance, they create a false sense of security in patients

As the mother of a child with anaphylactic allergies, I am sympathetic to the terror that Lucy Pasha-Robinson describes (Food allergies when flying are no joke. That’s why nuts should be banned on planes, 27 August). Indeed, last summer I spent six hours compulsively cleaning on a demonstrably filthy flight. Flight crew handed out wipes to passengers “to clean your tray tables”, then proceeded to serve packets of cashews (my child’s anaphylactic nut) with drinks. My nerves were shredded by the time we arrived in Chicago.

However, I am firmly against the banning of nuts from the skies. Food bans do not improve compliance, and they create a false sense of security in patients.