For Immediate Release: May 7, 2002
For more
information: 202/332-9110
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CSPI HAILS FOOD ALLERGEN BILL Legislation Offered By
Kennedy, Lowey Would List Common Allergens On Food Labels
WASHINGTON - The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) today
commended Representative Nita Lowey (D-NY) and Senator Edward M. Kennedy
(D-MA) for introducing legislation to improve ingredient labeling on foods
to protect consumers who suffer from food allergies. The bill would
require food manufacturers to use legible typefaces like those used for
Nutrition Facts labels.
Approximately four million Americans,
including up to six percent of children, are allergic to one type of food
or another. Eight ingredients—peanuts, tree nuts, milk, eggs, fish,
shellfish, soybeans, and wheat—account for most allergic reactions. About
29,000 people are rushed to hospital emergency rooms each year because of
allergic reactions to foods, and some 150 people die each year as a
result.
“It’s time for Congress to protect those
Americans who have food allergies by requiring all companies to disclose
common food allergens, using plain English and a legible format,” CSPI
executive director Michael F. Jacobson said. “Many parents of
milk-sensitive children don’t know that whey is a dairy ingredient, for
instance, or that albumen is an egg ingredient, but this bill would
require that they be identified as such on the label.”
The Food and Drug Administration has
taken no action on either a food allergen petition filed in May 2000 by
state Attorneys General, or on a similar petition filed by CSPI in October
2001. The bills introduced by Senator
Kennedy and Representative Lowey would also require that food labels bear
a toll-free telephone number where a consumer can get more information
about possible allergens and would encourage states to require emergency
vehicles to carry life-saving EpiPens. |