In an increasingly rare display of bipartisan support, a new piece of legislation concerning food allergies has finally become law. On Wednesday, President Obama signed into law the School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act, the first law that encourages public schools across the nation to stock emergency epinephrine, a potentially lifesaving product for those going into anaphylactic shock.

_For the last several years advocates within the food allergy community have pushed not only this federal initiative but also laws and measures passed at the state and local levels, to address this issue. And now, they have a federal law to aid in this push.

_The new law incentivizes states to adopt laws requiring schools to stock auto-injectors by tying these moves to preferential access to federal asthma education grant funds. Currently, only four states require auto-injectors to be stocked in schools, while another 26 states allow schools to voluntarily stock these life saving devices. The hope is that this law will push all states to adopt epinephrine stocking requirements and end school tragedies that could likely be avoided.

Author: K. Gilmore