A new act to be introduced by U.S. Senator Dick Durbin and U.S. Senator Mark Kirk this week will be another step closer to keeping our children with food allergies safe. According to Senator Durbin’s website, the “bill encourages schools throughout the nation to prevent allergy-related deaths by allowing trained, qualified staff to offer an injection of epinephrine to a student suffering from a severe allergic reaction.”  The states who meet the requirements of the bill will have preference for asthma-related grants from the government. States will have to require schools to have a supply of epinephrine on hand, train individuals (including others than the school nurse) to administer epinephrine, and have a Good Samaritan law to protect those administering the epinephrine.

FAAN’s press release emphasizes the fact that 25% of reactions that occur at school, occur in children who had no known allergy by the school administration. Furthermore, 28% of the deaths in school-age children due to food allergy reactions were because there was no administration or delayed administration of epinephrine, according to Senator Durbin's website. The bill is supported by FAAN and the Food Allergy Initiative so make sure to continue your support of these organizations as they work to make the world safer for our children.