Question: Harkin didn't even eat the peanut butter. If so, why'd he get an attack?
Answer: Severe reactions can be real, hence you see on some food packaging that the food was made in the same kitchen where they might have prepared nuts in their cooking.
Question: Is the scotch trick Kevin Spacey played on Jason Bateman a nod to "Hopfrog" by Edgar Allen Poe? To those of you who are wondering, Hopfrog is a deformed dwarf Jester who is forced to amuse a tyrant by being forced to drink wine because "it excited the poor cripple to madness, and madness is no comfortable feeling." Hopfrog avenges himself that very night, but I was just wondering.
Chosen answer: I doubt that was a conscious decision - while it's certainly an interesting parallel, getting someone drunk to laugh at them is a common enough scheme.
Answer: People with a severe peanut allergy can be affected without consuming any. Airborne trace amounts can be inhaled and cause a reaction. In some cases, even touching peanuts is dangerous.
raywest ★