ACTION: Make Food Safer for Americans with Food Allergies!

[Guest guest]

http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/AllergyBill/wsbxxg2078xd3n

We encourage you to take action by June 30, 2002

Help Make Food Safer for Americans with Food Allergies!

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Help Make Food Safer for Americans with Food Allergies!

In response to the article on food allergies in the

April 2001 issue of Nutrition Action Healthletter

http://www.cspinet.org/nah/04_01/

and subsequent article and editorial in The New York

Times, Senator M. Kennedy (D-Mass) has introduced

legislation calling for tighter regulation of food

allergens. I urge you to contact your Senators right

away and ask them to support that legislation.

(Representative Nita M. Lowey (D-NY) has introduced

the same legislation in the House of Representatives.

For technical reasons, you cannot send one letter to

your Senators and a slightly different letter to your

Representative, and so we will send you a separate

alert concerning her bill.)

As reported in our article, food allergies kill about

150 Americans - many of them children - each year and

affect millions of others. A 2000 survey conducted

jointly by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA),

Minnesota, and Wisconsin found that one-quarter of

the bakery products, candy, and ice cream sampled were

contaminated with peanut or egg ingredients not declared

on the labels.

Senator Kennedy's legislation would require companies

to: list the major allergens (including those in spices,

flavorings, and colorings) by their common English

names in a more readable format, include a telephone

number on the label that consumers could call for more

information, and better prevent cross-contact between

products made in the same facility or on the same production

line. The bill would permit labels to state that a

food " may contain allergens " when the possibility of

contamination cannot be totally excluded. His bill

would also allow the FDA to fine companies that violate

the food-allergen requirements and establish at the

Centers for Disease Control a system for tracking food

allergy-related deaths. Finally, the bill directs the

Secretary of Health and Human Services to develop recommendations

on training emergency medical technicians with respect

to administering epinephrine and the need for emergency

vehicles to carry such devices, to support activities

to increase awareness of guidelines aimed at training

restaurant employees on preparing allergen-free foods,

and to develop recommendations for schools on how to

prepare allergen-free foods.

While an e-mail to your Senators is good, an " ordinary

mail " letter is better. If you use our model e-mail,

the computer will automatically send it to your Senators.

If you use an ordinary mail letter and don't know the

name of your Senators, you can go to www.senate.gov

and click on " List Senators by State. " The address

for Senators is: United States Senate, Washington,

D.C. 20510.

Senator Kennedy needs bipartisan support to pass this

important legislation, and so I urge you to write your

own ordinary mail letter, edit and send the attached

e-mail, or simply send the attached e-mail.

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INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA THE WEB:

If you have access to a web browser, you can take action

on this alert by going to the following URL:

http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/AllergyBill/wsbxxg2078xd3n

INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA EMAIL:

Just choose the " reply to sender " option on your email

program, and edit the letter below as you wish. Do

not delete " -YOU MAY EDIT THE LETTER BELOW- " and " -END

OF LETTER- " . Please do not add your name and address

to your letter. Our system automatically does this

for you.

We STRONGLY encourage you to make edits directly to

our sample letter below, and put the alert talking

points into your own words. An individualized letter

is worth ten computer generated letters. Of course,

hundreds of unedited letters will still create a large

impact, so please reply even if you don't have time

to personalize the letter.

Your letter will be addressed and sent to:

Senator Schumer

-------YOU MAY EDIT THE LETTER BELOW---------

Dear Senator _____:

I urge you to cosponsor S. 2499, the Food Allergen

Consumer Protection Act. Millions of Americans have

food allergies, and each year about 150 people in the

United States die from anaphylactic shock caused by

a food allergy.

Most children who have food allergies have their first

exposure to allergens in their homes. A 2000 survey

conducted jointly by the Food and Drug Administration,

Minnesota, and Wisconsin found that one-quarter of

the bakery products, candy, and ice cream sampled were

contaminated with peanut or egg ingredients that were

not declared on the product labels.

S. 2499 (introduced by Senator Kennedy on May 9, 2002)

would require companies to list the major allergens

(including those in spices, flavorings, and colorings)

by their common English names in a more readable format

and to include a telephone number on the label that

consumers could call for more information. The legislation

would also require manufacturers to better prevent

cross-contact between products made in the same facility

or on the same production line and would permit them

to indicate on labels that the food may contain allergens

when the possibility of contamination cannot be totally

excluded. The bill would also allow the Food and Drug

Administration to assess penalties against firms that

violate the food allergen requirements and require

the Centers for Disease Control to establish a system

for tracking food allergy-related deaths. Finally,

the bill directs the Secretary of Health and Human

Services to develop recommendations on training emergency

medical technicians with respect to administering epinephrine

and the need for emergency vehicles to carry such devices,

to support activities to increase awareness of guidelines

aimed at training restaurant employees on preparing

allergen-free foods, and to develop recommendations

for schools on how to prepare allergen-free foods.

I urge you to cosponsor this important public health

legislation.

-------END OF LETTER-------------------------

Sincerely yours,