The Department of Transportation has sent guidelines to airline companies proposing they set up peanut-free zones on all flights. Under the guidelines, if a passenger asks for a peanut-free seat, no peanuts could be served in that row, nor in the row ahead of it or behind it. The proposal came in response to complaints, filed under the Americans with Disabilities Act, from people with food allergies. Allergy symptoms include runny eyes, hives, swollen lips, choking, and in extreme cases, death. Mitch Head, spokesman for the Southern Peanut Farmers Federation, described the guidelines as "taking a sledgehammer to a gnat," and said that people who are allergic to peanuts are almost always born with the condition and are well aware that they should not consume the nuts. But allergy sufferers say even the smell of peanuts causes them problems.

The New York Times also reports that many schools have banned peanut-butter sandwiches altogether for fear that allergic children may trade away the hypoallergenic lunches supplied by their parents for their friends' tastier sandwiches. An activist group, the Food Allergy Network, has reportedly encouraged parents to raise concerns about this danger. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recorded the death of only one child since 1995 and 88 deaths overall in the United States over 17 years—not just from peanuts but from all food allergies combined.

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