Food Allergy Mom Forms Grassroots Advocacy Group, Applauds Congress on Passage of New Food Allergen Labeling Bill.

Anna McCartneys son nearly died from a food allergy when he was 10 months old. The baby had eaten eggs for the first time, and went into anaphylactic shock. Now the Seattle mom has formed a grassroots lobbying group for food allergy issues and celebrates the passage of a bill in Congress that will require plain English labels on food ingredients.

SEATTLE, WA July 23, 2004 -- Anna McCartneys son nearly died from a food allergy when he was 10 months old. The baby had eaten eggs for the first time, and went into anaphylactic shock. By the time the paramedics arrived, her son was in cardiac arrest and was not breathing.

I held him in my arms and thought my baby had died, said McCartney, who had never met anyone with a food allergy before. Then the paramedics arrived with lifesaving medication. The boy was saved with only seconds to spare and the McCartney family began their journey into a life of food allergies.

11 million Americans (and approximately 1 in 20 US children) have one or more food allergies. Since there is no cure for the condition, the only way for someone with food allergies to keep from having a potentially life-threatening allergic reaction is to completely avoid foods that contain their allergen(s).

Food allergies are also on the rise. For example, the incidence of peanut allergy has doubled in the last five years.

With the knowledge that if her son ingested even a tiny amount of eggs, it could cause a potentially fatal reaction, McCartney set out trying to read food labels and keep her son safe.

I was completely overwhelmed, says McCartney. Food labels are so confusing, and its a matter of life and death for my child. It turns out that at least eighteen terms show up on ingredient labels to indicate that a product may contain eggs. These terms include livetin, lysozyme, ovomucoid, albumin, and lecithin. Even egg substitute may indicate the presence of egg in a product. The labeling situation is similar for the other major allergens, and is even worse for those with a milk allergy over 30 terms can show up on food labels to indicate the presence of milk.

I carry a little card with me when I grocery shop, because I dont trust myself to remember all the chemical terms, says McCartney. Im not a scientist.

The fact that food labels are so difficult to read makes it hard for waiters, daycare workers, friends, grandparents, and other caretakers to verify whether something is safe for a food allergic child.

I expect MYSELF to keep track of all the different words for egg, but its hard to expect a waiter or a daycare employee to check ingredient labels for all these technical terms, says McCartney.

McCartney has found help from other parents of food allergic children and is active with several food allergy support groups, both online and locally. McCartney discovered that other parents felt as overwhelmed as she did by the task of keeping their food allergic children safe.

Meanwhile, others were working hard on legislation to improve food labels. Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) sponsored a bill that would require that if a packaged food contains one of the top 8 food allergens, the ingredient label must indicate the presence of that allergen in PLAIN ENGLISH. This means that in addition to saying that a package of pepperoni contains lactic acid starter culture, the label would indicate that it CONTAINS MILK. The bill will also close the additive loophole, meaning that the common food allergens may not be hidden under the categories of natural flavor, spices, additives, and colorings. The bill is called the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act.

Food allergies account for roughly 200 deaths and 30,000 emergency room visits each year in this country. The FALCPA will save many lives and will simplify the prospect of reading food labels, thus removing some of the constant worry that food allergy sufferers (and their caregivers) face each day.

Upon learning of the FALCPA, McCartney contacted her own members of Congress to seek their support for the bill. Her Representative and both Senators signed on as co-sponsors almost immediately. McCartney was delighted that she, as one person, could make a difference. Thus began her quest for food allergy advocacy.

McCartney discovered that although many people wanted to get involved, they often didnt know what to do, so she decided to help organize a grassroots campaign. McCartney joined forces with Gary Pearl of Northern California, also the parent of a child with life threatening food allergies. Together, they developed materials and provided information to demystify the process of advocating to members of Congress for help. They drafted sample letters, showed people where to find the contact info for their Members of Congress, explained how the lawmaking process works, how to make your call to your Congressperson more effective, and launched a postcard campaign to educate members of Congress about the FALCPA.

McCartney printed over 3000 postcards for various parents, with photos of their food allergic children on one side and information about the bill on the other. She helped people figure out how to distribute the cards to friends and relatives to send to their members of Congress.

McCartney also called congressional staffers and shared her familys story. She met with legislative aides and attended Representatives open house Q&A sessions. Soon, eight of the eleven members of Congress from McCartneys state had become co-sponsors of the bill.

The bill passed unanimously in the Senate on 3/8/04 and in the House on 7/20/04. The bill now awaits signature by President Bush and the new labeling law should go into effect on 1/1/06. By the time McCartneys son can read, common food allergens will be listed in plain English on package labels.

Many players were involved in making FALCPA a reality, but we especially want to applaud the efforts of the thousands of individuals who mobilized at the grassroots level to contribute to the passage of this bill. As a result of this experience, McCartney and Pearl have launched www.FoodAllergyAction.org to help harness the collective power of grassroots advocacy and serve as a resource for people who want to get involved. The website is devoted to creating visibility for important food allergy issues, and providing tools and resources to support advocacy efforts. Our goal is to continue to create positive change in the lives of the food allergic community.

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