[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Page 6910]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      FOOD ALLERGY AWARENESS WEEK

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, Food Allergy Awareness Week recognizes how 
serious and how wide spread food allergies are in this country. One in 
every 13 children in the United States is affected by a life-
threatening food allergy. According to the Centers for Disease Control 
and Prevention, food allergy reactions send someone to the emergency 
room every 3 minutes.
  The rising prevalence of food allergies is an important public health 
issue that is already felt in schools, restaurants, and workplaces 
across the country. According to the National Institutes of Allergy and 
Infectious Disease, food allergies cause 30,000 cases of anaphylaxis 
and more than 200 deaths every year. We need to support research to 
develop new therapies and understanding to ultimately prevent and cure 
food allergies.
  As the number of kids living with dangerous and in some cases deadly 
food allergy attacks at school has increased, some States and cities 
have responded by improving access to epinephrine auto-injectors as an 
important strategy to respond safely and quickly when students 
experience anaphylaxis. While many children with known food allergies 
are permitted to bring their epinephrine auto-injectors to school, 25 
percent of epinephrine administrations in schools involve individuals 
without a previously known allergy. Many students who will need 
epinephrine have no history of food allergies and therefore do not 
carry epinephrine. Further, schools provide a setting where children 
are exposed to new foods that may trigger severe allergy attacks. 
Therefore, the decision for schools to stock their own epinephrine can 
be lifesaving.
  I commend the state of Illinois for being a leader in this fight and 
passing legislation in 2011 to allow schools to stock emergency 
epinephrine auto-injectors. Last Congress, I worked with my colleague, 
Senator Kirk, to introduce legislation that would encourage states to 
require schools to stock epinephrine and to allow trained designated 
personnel to administer epinephrine in an emergency.
  My hope is that Food Allergy Awareness Week can help the public to 
appreciate the extent of the problem and, importantly, the severity of 
the disease. It is a health threat that affects every race, age, income 
group and geographic area, and is growing at a frightening pace. What 
the public increasingly needs to understand is that this is not simply 
an inconvenient condition. As the tragic deaths of children each year 
show, it is frequently a life-threatening disease. Food Allergy 
Awareness Week is a first step to a better understanding and a greater 
commitment to our response.

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