On November 13, 2013, President Obama signed into law the School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act. This act encourages states to adopt laws that require schools to have on hand “stock” epinephrine auto-injectors. This law will help protect children whose epinephrine auto-injector is not immediately accessible during an allergic reaction, and help save the lives of children who experience an anaphylactic reaction and do not have a prescribed epinephrine auto-injector. With about one quarter of epinephrine administrations in the school setting involving students or staffers whose allergy was not known at the time of the allergic reaction, it is critical for those people to have access to undesignated epinephrine auto-injectors. Many people who may need epinephrine are allergic to food, bee stings, or latex do not know that they have the allergy until the first time they react, so they would not have a prescription of their own.
This legislation was championed by Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE), and was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on July 30 and the Senate on October 31 with strong bipartisan support.
This law is a big step in terms of expanding to availability of epinephrine auto-injectors in schools and will save the lives of allergic children nationwide.
-Faith Huang
Allergy & Asthma Associates of Southern California provides relief from allergies, asthma, sinus problems, chronic cough and other related conditions. Dr. William E. Berger, Dr. Warner W. Carr, Dr. Mark S. Sugar, Dr. Christina D. Schwindt, and Dr. Faith R. Huang together with their staff specialize in allergy and immunology in Southern California.
If you or your child is suffering from an allergy, please call us at (949) 364-2900 to schedule your appointment today. You can also use our online Request an Appointment form to schedule a future appointment.
