The federal government is issuing its first guidelines to schools on how to protect children with food allergies.
According to Yahoo News, voluntary guidelines call on schools to take steps to protect children against food attacks. Schools or educational programs should restrict nuts, shellfish or other foods that can cause allergic reactions, and make sure emergency allergy medicine, like EpiPens, are always available.
"The need is here" for a more comprehensive, standardized way for schools to deal with this issue, said Dr. Wayne Giles, who oversaw development of the advice for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
About 15 states have already set up polices, including numerous individual schools or school districts.
Children's allergies to peanuts, dairy and other food cost the United States nearly $25 billion a year, according to the Los Angeles Times. Dr. Ruchi Gupta, a pediatrician at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago and a professor at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, found food allergies affect eight percent of American kids.
The report found that $4.3 billion is spent on medical attention for children who suffer from food alleegies and lost productivity of parents who had to take their children to these appointments added $773 million.
Children with food allergies must buy special allergen-free food and parents must try to place their children in allergy-sensitive schools or make special arrangements in facilities. These costs totaled $5.5 billion, the report stated.
A recent CDC survey estimated that about 1 in 20 children in the U.S. have food allergies a 50 percent increase from the late 1990s. The guidelines released Wednesday were required by a 2011 federal law. Peanuts, tree nuts, milk and shellfish are among the food that most often most trigger reactions. But experts say more than 170 foods are known to cause reactions.
To prevent incidents, parents and teachers should identify children with food allergies and have a plan to prevent exposures and manage any reactions.
Schools are required to train teachers or others how to use medicines like epinephrine injectors, or have medical staff to do the job. When it comes to planning a class event or a field trip, teachers should be aware of the food the children are consuming and designate someone to carry epinephrine.
