The ADINA Act (H.R. 4263/S. 2079) seeks to rectify an alarming gap in consumer safety by requiring drug manufacturers to label prescription and OTC medicines containing any of the top-nine food allergens or gluten. A recent study revealed that 93% of all medications include at least one of these allergens, posing a significant risk to the more than 33 million Americans with potentially life-threatening food allergies.
More than 10% of Americans live in fear that the medicine that is supposed to help them could harm them, sending them to emergency room or worse as a few years ago, an 11-year-old California girl died after using a prescription toothpaste that contained dairy.
Popular medicines such as Amoxicillin, Prednisone, and Benadryl, commonly used by the food allergy community, often contain one or more of the top-nine food allergens. Shockingly, despite the potential life-threatening consequences, there is currently NO REQUIREMENT for these allergens to be listed on medication labels.
Please stand with us in championing the ADINA Act and ensuring the safety of the more than 10% of Americans with food allergies. By supporting this legislation, you ensure that every American has the right to know what is in their medicine.
Together, let us take a crucial step towards a safer future and much needed transparency by requiring the top-nine allergens and gluten be labeled in medicine. After all, if we label allergens for our food, we ought to do the same for our medicine.
I am a constituent, and either I or someone in my family, or someone I know, is one of the more than 33 million Americans with a life-threatening food allergy, and I am urging you to cosponsor H.R. 4263/S. 2079, the bipartisan Allergen Disclosure in Non-food Articles (ADINA) Act.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the U.S. House along with Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), introduced the ADINA Act to require the labeling of prescription and over-the-counter drugs for the top-nine allergens and gluten.
As you may know, there is no legal requirement that prescription and over-the-counter drugs state on their labeling whether they contain any of the top-nine allergens or gluten and this can have deadly consequences. In 2019, an 11-year-old-girl died after using a prescription toothpaste that had dairy in it.
One recent study found that 93% of all medications contain potential allergens, including the oral steroid prednisone, which contains lactose, derived from milk, and is often given to patients following an anaphylactic attack. Popular drugs and health aids that are life-threatening for those with a dairy allergy include Advair, Benadryl, Claritin, Montelukast, and Symbicort – and these are often prescribed for people with asthma or those experiencing breathing problems which is common in the food allergy sufferers.
Given that more than 100 million Americans have life-threatening food allergies, intolerances, celiac disease, or a gluten-sensitivity, we need a fast and simple solution, which is why I am asking you to support this bill to help protect my family and other American food allergy families.
Please cosponsor the ADINA Act now!
Thank you,
