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economist sunsuntribune news saturday dec 13 2003 york board leery about liability with new allergy bill by mitchell brown staff writer asa school principal dave levac experienced several close calls involving students with allergies the former brantfordarea principal recalls a class trip several years ago when a stu dent was stung by a bee fortunately our emer gency plan happened exactly as it should he said however he added if he had been at a school board that didnt have a plan the outcome could have been a lotworse while he acknowledges most boards in the province have some plan to protect stu dents with allergies mr levac who is also the liberal mpp fortjrant is sponsoring a bill that would make every school board in the province adopt the same policy for dealing with students with allergies bill 3 would require boards to develop strategies to reduce the risk of exposure arrange for staff training and in the event of an emergency school staff would be permit ted to administer medication without parental consent it passed second reading last week and will now go to committee for discussion before a third and final read ing which mr levac hopes will take place in time for schools to implement it before next september if you cut a peanut 1000 times that 1 1000th of a peanut can kill a child mr levac said thats how serious this canoe also known as anaphylax is its estimated that between 1 and 2 per cent of the popu lation or 300000 to 600000 canadians suffer from severe allergies to peanuts dairy products eggs insect stings latex and other irritants those with the most severe allergic reactions who tend to be children can be treated but only if lifesaving medication is administered as soon as possible musical instruments featuring yamaha gigantic selection lease to own gift certificates lessons chmond hill yamaha portable keyboards accessories yamaha clavinova home 1 keyboards accessories yamaha acoustic guitars 5 accessories best prices guaranteed smm 112newkirkrdnortn richmond hill yamaha brass woodwind instruments accessories 100s of entry level r0 instruments now in stock to that end most boards including the public and catholic boards in york region have policies outlin ing the rights and responsi bilities of parents and teach ers when an allergic child attends school still mr levac believes this is serious enough to require a uniform policy across the province the closest thing the education act says is that the principal should be responsi ble for the health of the stu dents in the school he said when were talking life and death there should be a minimum standard across ontario he acknowledged there may be some concern about boards adopting a policy in which parents are not in formed before a child is med icated but he said there have been cases where it was not known a child had an allergy until suffering a reaction we would find it very dis turbing that a parent would not try to have all the ammu nition needed to keep their child alive he said adding the province is carefully con sidering the legal aspects of the bill york public board spokesperson ross virgo could not comment on the wording of the bill but his board will watch the legisla tion very carefully i can tell you that this would be an area of serious concern not only to mem bers of our teachers unions but also to our administra- tors he said they certainly have the interest of students in mind but there are liability issues around the administration of medicine laurie harada executive director of anaphylaxis can ada said ifs wonderful someone is taking on the issue we take a lot of calls from school boards and par ents with issues she said whats happening now is we have some boards with policies and some without even in those boards with good plans it has to get down to the school level 5 annual christmas showroom sale w m m we are diamond jewellery wholesalers supplying retailers across canada we open our doors to the public once a year just in time for christmas mmiii raised 1050 14k only diamond a sapphire ring diamond solitaire ring b lire diamond ring emeralds diamond ring center diamond 082cts g colour 14k gold osocts- 14k gold osscts gs 75 appraised st200onlys360 appraised s11700 only 4200 appraif lys1so0 ap rrtrrrmt royal doulton fig urines jugs animals mm- ruby diamond ring 1 it 182cts of rubies 316c appraised s1450 only 375 msrps600 only 150 invisible set diamond bon ruby diamond ring v 18k gold looets tdw 14k 150ctstdw appraised 53125 only 1125 mtsrp 2750 only wm eagle stgorriam st mulock dr r hwy4077 f marcus company 1131 gorham street 6 newmarket e off leslie st next to new generation fitness showroom sale only 9 days left december 8 to 23 only open daily 10 to 6 905 8955005 december 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ot idfajc h 25 a 27 reduce reuse recycle i rar