SRxA is delighted to announce that earlier this week President Obama signed into law the School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act. During a week in which Obama and his new healthcare.gov website have made headlines for all the wrong reasons, we thought it only fair to commend him on this important anaphylaxis initiative.
The School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act is legislation that will help to protect schoolchildren who experience life-threatening anaphylaxis.
“This legislation is a significant milestone for food, venom and latex allergy safety in our nation’s schools,” says Tonya Winders, chief operating officer of Allergy & Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics (AANMA). “It will help save lives of children who experience an anaphylactic reaction for the first time or don’t have epinephrine auto-injectors readily available when anaphylaxis occurs.”
The measure provides a funding incentive to states that enact laws allowing school personnel to stock and administer emergency supplies of epinephrine auto-injectors. Epinephrine is the first line of treatment for anaphylaxis.
The School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act was bipartisan legislation, first passing the U.S. House of Representatives on July 30, 2013, and then the U.S. Senate on Oct. 31, 2013, before heading to the President’s desk.
Allergic reactions to foods are the most common cause of anaphylaxis in community settings, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Studies show that 16-18% of schoolchildren with food allergies have had a reaction from accidentally ingesting food allergens. In addition, 25% of anaphylaxis cases reported at schools happened in children with no prior history of food allergy.
As of today, 28 states have passed emergency stock epinephrine legislation and six have bills pending. Let’s hope this legislation will spur the remaining states to follow as soon as possible.
Green states that have passed stock epinephrine laws or regulations:
Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana,Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma,Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia
Yellow states have pending stock epinephrine bills:
Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania
Red states that have no stock epinephrine bills:
Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas, Wisconsin, and Wyoming
To find out more about anaphylaxis in schools please visit http://www.epipen4schools.com/ and https://www.anaphylaxis101.com/Resource-Library/Anaphylaxis-in-Schools.asp
