BURLINGTON, Vt., Feb. 8 (UPI) -- For children with asthma or allergies, U.S. schools are filled with potential dangers, the Allergy & Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics says.
AANMA is working state-by-state to introduce legislation to give students the right to carry and self-administer their prescribed asthma and anaphylaxis medications at school and school-sponsored events.
"I believe we are saving lives," MaryKay Hill, founder of the Vermont Food Allergy Organization and who worked with AANMA to introduce this type of legislaiton in Vermont says in a statement.
"I don't want to wake up in the morning and read a headline that a child died from anaphylaxis or asthma at school."
This law would make Vermont the 48th state to protect students with asthma and the 41st to protect students with anaphylaxis, a life-threatening allergic reaction to foods, insect stings, medications or latex, Hill said.
Asthma claims the lives of 12 Americans every day, affects more than 9 million children and is the leading cause of missed school days. Approximately 2.2 million schoolchildren have food allergy -- just one of the causes of anaphylaxis.
