[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 27 (Thursday, February 9, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S288-S289]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              PROTECTING CHILDREN WITH FOOD ALLERGIES ACT

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, every parent in America remembers the 
first day they sent their child off to school. For many parents, this 
is a day filled with tears of joy as they send their child off into the 
world alone for the first time. For others, it is a day of worry and 
fear. Parents wonder if their child will be able to find their 
classrooms or if they will make friends. Some even worry if their 
child's school could be the scene of the senseless violence that occurs 
all too often in this country. But for the parents of a child with 
severe allergies, there is another serious fear: the threat of 
anaphylaxis. Anaphylaxis causes blood pressure to plummet, airways to 
constrict and close, and the heart to beat erratically and stop. It can 
turn deadly, quickly. Even a trace amount of an allergen can be enough 
to trigger anaphylaxis.
  Only one drug can halt and reverse the progression of anaphylaxis: 
epinephrine. But as miraculous as the drug is, it can't help if it is 
not on hand when the unthinkable happens. That is why, in 2013, I 
introduced the School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act to make 
schools safer for children with food allergies. At the time, schools 
often did not stock epinephrine, or ``EpiPens,'' as it is often called. 
This left children with food allergies vulnerable at school, especially 
those who may not have known they are allergic. Sometimes, children 
forget their EpiPens at home; others don't have EpiPens to begin with.
  My 2013 bill encouraged more schools to keep epinephrine on hand by 
providing them with federal grants. It received bipartisan support, and 
it was signed into law by President Obama. Over the last 10 years, it 
has saved lives, and it has given parents and students alike greater 
peace of mind that their school will be prepared to respond to a life-
threatening emergency. But, I have thought since then: What more can we 
do to prevent allergic reactions from occurring in the first place?
  I hear from parents across my State of Illinois who are concerned 
about sending their children with food allergies to school. Tamara 
Hubbard from Lake Zurich, IL, is one of those parents. She is the 
mother of a teenage son who has food allergies. Ms. Hubbard also 
happens to be a therapist whose practice includes working with children 
who have food allergies and their families. She wrote to me and told me 
that: ``It takes a daily dose of blind faith mixed with hope'' to send 
a child with food allergies to school. For a child with a peanut or 
sesame allergy, she said, going to school can be a lot like entering 
the lion's den. These and other common food allergens are often 
contained in school meals and in the snacks and lunches of other 
children. You have to be careful.
  Ms. Hubbard said that the families she counsels are often left 
wondering, ``Does our school staff understand allergen labeling? Are 
they aware of cross-contamination best practices and how to make safe 
ingredient substitutions for lunches?'' And what if they are not aware? 
That last one is a hard question to contemplate because we know the 
worst can--and does--happen.
  Last May, Tom Shaw, a father in Papillon, NE, just outside of Omaha, 
dropped his 14-year-old son, Jagger, off at school, gave him a hug and 
told him to have a good day--just as he had done every school day. But 
this was not a normal day. You see, like 1 in 50 American children, 
Jagger was allergic to peanuts. But at snack time, he was given a 
granola bar that had peanuts in it. Almost immediately, Jagger's heart 
started racing, and his throat began to swell. He went to the school 
nurse's office, where he was injected with an EpiPen. But his condition 
continued to worsen quickly. By the time Jagger was rushed to the 
hospital, his heart had stopped beating. He had to be resuscitated and 
put on a ventilator. He suffered serious damage to his heart and brain. 
Two days after eating that granola bar, Jagger died. Last month, a 10-
year-old girl in Amarillo, TX, Emerson Kate Cole, also died after she 
went into anaphylaxis at school.
  Nearly 1 million children nationwide have had an allergic reaction at 
school. And 25 percent of these reactions occur among children who have 
undiagnosed food allergies. We can and must do more to prevent children 
with allergies, diagnosed and undiagnosed, from experiencing 
potentially deadly reactions to food allergens in schools. That is why, 
2 weeks ago, Senator Duckworth and I introduced the Protecting Children 
with Food Allergies Act. Our bill would require cafeteria workers and 
other school nutrition workers to receive training in how to identify, 
prevent, and respond to food-related allergic reactions. That is it. It 
is a simple fix that would make our schools safer for children with 
food allergies so that they can focus on learning, not on whether or 
not they might have an allergic reaction at lunchtime. These cooks, 
servers, and other cafeteria workers already undergo other sorts of 
trainings, such as to prevent the spread of foodborne pathogens. We 
think they also should know the basics on food allergy safety, too. The 
Protecting Children with Food Allergies Act would move us in that 
direction.
  We hope our colleagues will join us and support this bill with a 
strong bipartisan vote, just as we did in 2013.

[[Page S289]]

Our kids are depending on us. Let's pass this bill and send it to the 
President's desk as soon as possible. When it comes to food allergies 
and potentially deadly anaphylaxis, every minute counts.

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