Infectious Disease
NY law requires educational materials about anaphylaxis, autoinjectors for teachers
September 20, 2023
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Key takeaways:
- The state commissioner of health will provide written information on recognizing anaphylaxis and using epinephrine autoinjectors.
- Advocates have been fighting for this legislation for 12 years.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has signed legislation that requires the state’s commissioner of health to provide written information on how to recognize anaphylaxis and use epinephrine autoinjectors to the state’s teachers.
Sponsored by Sen. Cordell Cleare and Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal, Senate Bill S209A goes into effect immediately.
More than 218,000 students in New York have life-threatening food allergies, but school nurses are not always required to be on campus to administer epinephrine autoinjectors. Image: Adobe Stock
Cordell Cleare
The law will apply to the more than 212,000 teachers in New York public and nonpublic elementary and secondary schools that are authorized to administer epinephrine autoinjectors, including charter schools.
According to FARE, more than 218,000 students in New York have a life-threatening food allergy.
In 2017, 3-year-old Elijah Silvera was given a grilled cheese sandwich at school even though his family said they had told the educators there that he was allergic to dairy products. He then died of anaphylactic shock.
“The true hope is that in the cases where a child is having a severe allergic reaction, and we hope those cases are rare, there will literally be multiple adults in the room who have received training on the correct use of an epinephrine autoinjector and can administer it safely and swiftly,” Cleare said.
The legislation notes that approximately 8% of all children have food allergies, with 150 deaths due to these allergies each year. Also, the legislation says, there are no mandates requiring nurses to be in the school building at all times.
Linda B. Rosenthal
Potential delays in getting available health care personnel to treat children with anaphylaxis in a timely manner underscore the need for other school personnel to know how to use autoinjectors, the legislation continues.
“Empowering teachers by providing them with the information necessary to intervene during an allergic reaction will save lives,” Rosenthal said.
Rosenthal also noted that more than 15% of school-aged children with food allergies have had a reaction while at school.
“Many students experience an allergic reaction for the first time while in school, and others with allergies can become too frightened or ill to administer the autoinjector themselves,” Rosenthal said.
“A person is admitted to the emergency room for an allergic reaction every 3 minutes in the United States,” she continued. “Providing this information will help ensure the safety of students in the classroom and help teachers be prepared in the event of an emergency.”
Konoff began lobbying for this legislation when she was in elementary school. She is now a college graduate.
“This bill is such an important step in ensuring that all kids with food allergies can safely attend school,” Konoff said.
Mindlin and other advocates including teachers who wanted this information led the fight for this bill, which was first introduced in a different version more than 12 years ago.
FARE expects to work with teachers, food allergy advocates and other stakeholders to ensure that the materials from the commissioner of health are easy to understand and include examples of different epinephrine autoinjectors.
“I know this law will allow students like me to thrive in school without fear, knowing that the teachers around them have the tools and training to protect us,” he said.
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