[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2773 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2773

 To protect children from foods that pose a significant choking hazard.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 17, 2003

Mr. Honda (for himself, Mr. Ferguson, Mr. Pallone, Mr. Wynn, Mr. Pombo, 
    Mr. Payne, Mr. Bell, Mr. Stark, Ms. Lee, and Mrs. Christensen) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                          Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To protect children from foods that pose a significant choking hazard.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

     This Act may be cited as the ``Food Choking Prevention Act of 
2003''.

SEC. 2. OFFICE OF CHOKING HAZARD EVALUATION.

    (a) In General.--An Office of Choking Hazard Evaluation (referred 
to in this Act as the ``Office'') shall be established by the Food and 
Drug Administration. The Food and Drug Administration is encouraged to 
enter into interagency agreements with the Consumer Product Safety 
Commission and any other pertinent agencies in establishing and 
operating the Office.
    (b) Informational Labels.--The Office shall have the authority to 
require informational labels on food consumed by children that pose a 
demonstrably high choking risk to children.
    (c) Recall Authority.--The Office shall have mandatory recall 
authority of food that the Office determines pose a significant and 
unacceptable choking hazard to the general public.
    (d) Education.--The Office shall produce educational materials on 
food choking hazards, precautions, and life-saving procedures that 
shall be provided to pediatricians and hospitals to distribute to 
patients aged 14 and younger. The Office shall designate one week a 
year as ``National Child Food Choking Prevention Week'' and shall 
widely publicize choking hazards and life-saving procedures during that 
time period. Child safety, as well as infant and child CPR classes, 
shall be made widely available throughout the designated week.

SEC. 3. INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE.

    (a) Choking Hazard Evaluation Task Force.--The Food and Drug 
Administration, in consultation with the Consumer Product Safety 
Commission, shall establish the Choking Hazard Evaluation Task Force 
(referred to in this Act as the ``Task Force''). The staff of the Task 
Force shall be designated by such agencies.
    (b) Duties.--
            (1) In general.--The Task Force shall be responsible for 
        establishing criteria for determining whether a food poses a 
        significant and unacceptable choking hazard.
            (2) Age-specific criteria.--In carrying out paragraph (1), 
        the Task Force shall establish age-differentiated criteria for 
        choking hazards.
            (3) Public comment.--There shall be a 90-day public comment 
        period after the criteria under paragraph (1) are announced by 
        the Task Force.

SEC. 4. DATABASE OF COMPLAINTS.

     The Food and Drug Administration, in consultation with other 
pertinent agencies, shall ensure that there is in operation a national 
database of food choking incidents. The Food and Drug Administration 
shall provide for an adequate reporting system throughout its field 
offices, which members of the health care profession and the general 
public can readily access to report new incidents.

SEC. 5. REPORTS TO CONGRESS.

     The Food and Drug Administration shall regularly submit reports to 
the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate 
and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of 
Representatives regarding the implementation of this Act.
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