Food Allergy Safety, Treatment, Education, and Research Act of 2021

Floor Speech

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Mr. McHENRY. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mrs. Rodgers, my classmate and a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee for yielding. It is an amazing thing to be with you here today, and it is an amazing thing to be here today to talk about this important bill.

As the lead Republican cosponsor of the House companion to S. 578, I rise in support of the FASTER Act.

Millions of Americans suffer from life-threatening food allergies. More than 1.5 million Americans are allergic to sesame, in particular, yet there is no current requirement to include the ingredient on product labels. This legislation would declare it the ninth major allergen to be recognized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and update laws to require the labeling of sesame.

This bill would also require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to regularly review promising food allergy treatments and research. This is a major bipartisan priority. These efforts will help slow this rapidly growing disease and ultimately find and fund a cure.

Finally, the FASTER Act establishes a scientific process and framework for establishing additional allergens covered by the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

I am proud to serve as cofounder and co-chair of the newly formed Congressional Food Allergy Research Caucus, along with Congresswoman Doris Matsui. We recognize there is more we can do to help those 32 million Americans, including many who are children who suffer from food allergies.

We can and we should do more to increase funding into research, therapies, and treatments for food allergies. Sending this legislation to the President's desk would be a major first step to achieving our goal of improving treatment opportunities.

I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to vote "yes'' on this bill.

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