Reflecting on FAAMA

Posted Jan 28, 2011 | By Chris Weiss |

As you may have heard, the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Management Act (FAAMA) was signed into law by the President on Jan. 4, so we can expect the federal government to create some national, voluntary food allergy management guidelines for schools.

When will this happen? My best guess is by the end of 2011.

Who will create the guidelines? Likely, they will be created by a coalition of groups including FAAN, the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) and the National School Boards Association (NSBA) working under the auspices of CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH).

I know that some in the food allergy community are unhappy that these guidelines will be voluntary, and not mandatory, but this is just a political reality. We knew early on that any sort of mandate on our schools would never have been passed by Congress.  So the dilemma was pass something voluntary vs. pass nothing at all. We chose the former.

The whole FAAMA process was enlightening to me on many levels.

It was exciting to find out that the bill had been officially introduced on the very morning of FAAN’s first Kids’ Congress on Capitol Hill in the fall of 2005.

It was exciting to walk through the halls of the House and Senate office buildings, looking at the state flags outside of office doors, along with the state seals.

It was exciting to meet actual members of Congress, shake their hands, and speak directly to them about the challenges that families managing food allergies face.

It was exciting to see kids with food allergies, wearing suits and dresses, talking to their legislators about their experiences.

It was frustrating, however, to realize that the legislative process can be filled with so many obstacles and challenges. Partisanship is real, and there were concerns raised not only about the grant incentives in the legislation, but also whether the legislation was even something the federal government should consider. One legislator even told a family from his state that FAAMA was unconstitutional.

And over the last few months of 2010, it felt like our bill was tied to a yo-yo. One week, the bill was on life-support; the next week, it was dead; the next week, it was a sure thing; the next week, it was back on life support. But thank goodness it all worked out in the end.

Now we’ll shift our attention to other national issues that affect those living with food allergies that could be addressed by Congress.  

As always, I welcome your feedback.