FAAN Unveils Five Steps Forward For Food Allergy

Main Category: Allergy
Also Included In: Nutrition / Diet
Article Date: 14 May 2008 - 4:00 PDT

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In honor of the 11th annual Food Allergy Awareness Week, May 11-17, The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN) unveiled its new advocacy initiative "Five Steps Forward for Food Allergy" at an educational briefing on Capitol Hill.

This initiative addresses the challenges of food allergy and is aimed at improving the lives of the more than 12 million Americans who suffer from food allergies. "These five steps will be a great leap forward for the millions of American children and adults who live each day wondering if they are going to have an allergic reaction to a food. With the help of Congress, the NIH, the CDC, and the FDA we will make America a much safer place for those with food allergies," said FAAN CEO and Founder Anne Munoz-Furlong.

The "Five Steps Forward for Food Allergy" initiative calls for:

1. School Guidelines: The development of guidelines for assuring the safety of food-allergic children in school is necessary to keep the 2.2-million school-age children with food allergies safe. The Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Management Act (S. 1232/H.R. 2063) calls for these guidelines to be developed, and the House of Representatives has already passed this legislation. Therefore, the Senate should move swiftly to pass the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Management Act.

2. Food Allergy Information: There is a critical need for enhanced public information on food allergy, such as an information clearinghouse to provide guidance to the public and health care professionals. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should create a National Information Center on Food Allergies.

3. Guidelines for Diagnosis and Management of Food Allergies: Currently, there is no consistent agreement on how to identify and treat food allergy reactions. Too often, patients go from physician to physician seeking a diagnosis and receive incomplete information and guidance on allergen avoidance, the severity of the disease, and the need to carry epinephrine at all times. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases should move forward with the development of food allergy diagnosis and management guidelines and work with private-sector organizations to assure broad distribution to health care professionals.

4. Research: Expanded research on food allergy and anaphylaxis is necessary to understand why the prevalence of food allergy is increasing, as well as how to prevent and treat food allergies. Congress should increase funding for food allergy research by $50 million over the next five years. Annual increases of $10 million each year for five years should be invested in basic and clinical research on food allergy and anaphylaxis, as recommended by the NIH Expert Panel on Food Allergy Research.

5. Improved Allergen Labeling: Since strict avoidance of food allergens is the only way to prevent a reaction, food-allergic consumers are heavily reliant on the information presented to them on food labels. The Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004 improved some facets of allergen labeling, but the new law did not regulate the use of precautionary allergen statements, ranging from "May Contain" to "Processed in a Facility" to "Made on Shared Equipment." The U.S. Food and Drug Administration should move to regulate the wording, use, and definition of precautionary allergen statements to further improve allergen labeling.

To read the complete "Five Steps Forward for Food Allergy" and see a list of supporters, visit FAAN's website, http://www.foodallergy.org. The website also has information on Food Allergy Awareness Week, food allergy legislation, and food allergy in general.

ABOUT FAAN

Founded in 1991, the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN) is the world leader in information about food allergy, a potentially fatal condition that afflicts approximately 12 million Americans, or one out of every 25. A nonprofit organization based in Fairfax, Va., FAAN has 30,000 members in the U.S., Canada, and 62 other countries. It is dedicated to increasing public awareness of food allergy and its consequences, to educating people about the condition, and to advancing research on behalf of all those affected by it. FAAN provides information and educational resources about food allergy to patients, their families, schools, health professionals, pharmaceutical companies, the food industry, and government officials. For more information, please visit FAAN at http://www.foodallergy.org, http://www.faankids.org, and http://www.foodallergy.org.

Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network
http://www.foodallergy.org