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A Resolution of the County of Allegheny, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, urging the General Assembly and the United States Congress to push for additional funding for research to discover a cure for life-threatening food allergies.
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WHEREAS, more than 12 million Americans currently suffer from food allergies; and
WHEREAS, between 1997 and 2002, the number of children with food allergies doubled in the United States; and
WHEREAS, in the United States alone, food allergies kill as many as 200 people and send 30, 000 people to the emergency room each year; and
WHEREAS, the average school has 10 children suffering from severe food allergies; the most common allergens include peanuts, eggs, milk, fish, and wheat, which are nearly impossible to avoid completely at schools; and
WHEREAS, severe food allergies disqualify individuals from military service eligibility and as a result, the growing incidence of food allergies could significantly decrease the pool of qualified candidates to serve in our armed forces; and
WHEREAS, scientists believe that a cure can be found for most allergies by using existing science that has been developed to treat asthma, airborne allergens, and venom from bee stings, and they believe that a cure could be found within a decade; and
WHEREAS, Congress spends less than $10 million annually for allergy research while research for attention deficit disorder receives $107 million a year and research for diabetes receives $1.2 billion a year;
The Council of the County of Allegheny hereby resolves as follows:
Section 1.
Allegheny County Council urges the Pennsylvania General Assembly to push for additional funding to help cure life-threatening food allergies. It is further resolved, that Council urges the United States Congress to increase funding for research to discover a cure for life-threatening food allergies to benefit individuals and society as a whole.
Section 2. Severability. I...
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