CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

House Resolution
No. 46

Introduced by Assembly Member Gabriel

May 12, 2021

Relative to Food Allergy Prevention Awareness Day.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


HR 46, as introduced, Gabriel.
WHEREAS, Approximately 32,000,000 Americans live with life-changing food allergies, and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the prevalence of food allergies in children increased by 50 percent from 1997 to 2011, inclusive; and
WHEREAS, Food allergies have an enormous impact on quality of life for the 1 in 13 children who develop a severe food allergy, and one-third of those children are bullied for their allergy; and
WHEREAS, There is an annual cost to the health care system in excess of $25,000,000,000 per year, not including the cost of expensive new treatments or the dramatic impact to quality of life, from having a life-long and life-threatening food allergy; and
WHEREAS, Research has shown that the majority of children who develop a food allergy do not have a parent with a food allergy, and those parents are therefore much less aware of the life-changing consequences of developing a food allergy and the need for food allergy prevention; and
WHEREAS, Research has shown that up to 80 percent of childhood food allergies can be prevented through early allergen introduction, an approach through which parents frequently feed allergenic foods, such as peanut and egg, to their babies, and for an extended period of time; and
WHEREAS, The United States Department of Agriculture’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025 and medical guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) already recommend early allergen introduction to help prevent food allergies; and
WHEREAS, The Food Allergy Safety, Treatment, Education, and Research Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-11) highlights sesame as an important allergenic food, and requires the collection of data on the prevalence of food allergies and to aid in the prevention of the onset of food allergies; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, That the Assembly designates May 28, 2021, and each May 28 thereafter, as the annual Food Allergy Prevention Awareness Day; and be it further
Resolved, That the Assembly acknowledges there are clinically proven methods for preventing most childhood food allergies, by feeding allergenic foods, such as peanut and egg, to infants starting at four to six months of age; and be it further
Resolved, That the Assembly recognizes the National Institutes of Health and the NIAID for funding the initial food allergy prevention research through the Learning Early About Peanut Allergy study, and food allergy groups, including the Food Allergy Fund, the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Connection Team, the Food Allergy Research and Education, and PreventAllergies.org, for their role in educating the public about food allergies; and be it further
Resolved, That the Assembly encourages health care providers, the public health community, businesses, individuals, and federal, state, and local governments to work together to raise awareness of food allergy prevention to reduce the number of Americans who have severe food allergies; and be it further
Resolved, That the Assembly encourages all educators who work with new parents to help share the importance of feeding allergenic foods early and frequently to babies to help prevent food allergies; and be it further
Resolved, That the Assembly encourages state and federal health agencies to further expand research in food allergy prevention, and to how we can dramatically reduce food allergies in the United States; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.