Protecting Children with Food Allergies Act

Floor Speech

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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. 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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