Federal Research / Initiatives

Senator Tom Harkin recently held a congressional hearing, which addressed the need for more federal food allergy research funding. We are trying to collect as many letters as possible written by children with food allergies to share with Senator Harkin. The email below includes contact information if you want to send your letters directly to Senator Harkin. However, we would LOVE for you to send children’s letters to us so we can forward them to The Food Allergy Project who will compile them all and present them to Senator Harkin in a bound and/or framed format that will look really impressive. It will demonstrate the impact that food allergies are having across America and the need for the federal government to do more to help. Please send your letters to us at:

Utah Food Allergy Network, Inc.

P.O. Box 521222

Salt Lake City, UT  84152

Or email them to: support@utahfoodallergy.org

Dear friends of The Food Allergy Project,

Congress is hearing the message that more food allergy research funding is needed.  Last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee held a hearing, and food allergies were a major topic!

Senator Tom Harkin, Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and author of the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act, called it "alarming" that childhood food allergy cases are up 300%.  National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Anthony Fauci said his agency is taking this problem "very seriously" and acknowledged that the government does not know why this dramatic increase has occurred.

Harkin:  "With a 300% increase, do we have enough resources going into that?"

Fauci:  "We are doing a substantial amount.  We could do more."

This is the mission of the Food Allergy Project (www.FoodAllergyProject.org) -- more federal funding for food allergy research.

Clearly Congress is starting to pay attention.   Food allergies were discussed alongside other critical public health issues like avian flu, childhood vaccines, cancer and HIV/AIDS.  Other congressional staff watched this hearing and approached us for more information about food allergies.

please take a moment to say  "thANK YOU" to Senator Harkin  ...  for raising the profile of food allergies and working to increase federal funding for food allergy research.   

Letters from Children affected by food allergies make a HUGE impact, so please get out your favorite crayons and markers and brighten up Senator Harkin’s day.  

Send your letters to:

Senator Tom Harkin

731 Hart Senate Office Building   

Washington, DC 20510

Or e-mail them to http://www.harkin.senate.gov/contact/contact.cfm

(You can also watch the Senate hearing in its entirety on C-SPAN by going to www.cspan.com. Click on “Recent Programs” on the home page and scroll down to “Senate Appropriations Subcommittee. Hearing on NIH FY 2008 Budget” from 05/21/07. The discussion of food allergies starts at the 50 minute mark. You will need RealPlayer installed on your computer to view the video.)