Sen. Chris Dodd
Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Jackie Clegg Dodd are strong supporters of food allergy awareness, and have been working with FAAN for a long time to educate others about food allergies.
The senator and his wife know firsthand how challenging it can be to live with food allergies, because their daughter, Grace, has severe food allergies. “For me, this is a personal challenge, and one our family faces every single day,” says Dodd. “As parents, we had to educate ourselves and everyone in our daughter’s life, including her school and her teachers, her friends and their parents, and her babysitter.”
To nationally recognize Food Allergy Awareness Week (FAAW) in 2008, Dodd chaired a Senate hearing about food allergies. As the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Subcommittee on Children and Families, he convened a subcommittee hearing to examine the impact of food allergies on children and families.
Sen. Dodd is cosponsor of the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Management Act, along with Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.). The bill addresses the critical need for uniform and consistent food allergy policies in schools, while providing them with the resources they need to implement the policies.
Jackie Clegg Dodd served as honorary chair of the 2008 and 2009 FAAN Walk for Food Allergy in Hartford, Conn., and says, “It was nice to see so many people dealing with the same issues in one place.”
“At home, it’s much easier for parents to protect their children from foods that may cause severe, or even fatal, allergic reactions,” says Sen. Dodd. “But once they leave that safe environment, it becomes difficult to prevent their children from being exposed, even accidentally, to these commonly found foods.”
To learn more, watch Sen. Dodd talk about FAAW, or visit his website.
To participate in the FAAN Walk for Food Allergy, visit www.foodallergywalk.org.
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