WASHINGTON — A trio of top Senate Democrats is demanding the federal government require airlines to carry epinephrine auto-injectors – such as EpiPens – on board commercial flights.
In a letter shared first with CNN, Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Chuck Schumer and Ed Markey tell the Federal Aviation Administration it has a “glaring gap” in its requirements for what is carried as part of in-flight emergency kits, which “puts airline passengers at risk.”
Epinephrine auto-injectors treat a severe allergic reaction called anaphylaxis. The letter says FAA standards last updated in 2004 only require that airlines carry epinephrine in syringes “designed to be used primarily in the event of a cardiac emergency.”
Stocking only the vials of epinephrine, without auto-injectors, could have deadly consequences, according to the advocacy group FARE (Food, Allergy, Resource & Education).
“Most Americans do not know how to determine the proper dose of epinephrine to administer from a vial to treat an anaphylactic food allergy reaction, nor do they know how to safely and properly do so without an autoinjector.” the group warns on its website.
Now the lawmakers are pushing the FAA to change its requirements for airlines.
“We urge you to amend the current standing regulation to require that epinephrine auto-injectors be included in the emergency medical kit of every flight, as well as engage in regular review of medical kit requirements,” the letter reads.
The FAA said Tuesday it will respond directly to the senators and is reviewing emergency medical kit requirements.
In 2020, the agency said airlines could voluntarily carry epinephrine beyond the ampules required to be carried “mainly for cardiac resuscitation,” after it received input from the Aerospace Medical Association in 2019.
The Association of Flight Attendants, a labor union representing flight attendants from United Airlines, Spirit Airlines and Alaska Airlines, says it has “long advocated” for Congress and the FAA to “review and make recommendations to the list of medications required onboard including allergy pens.”
Alexa Jordon was on a flight from Boston to Chicago in May 2019 when she ate a salad she bought in the airport that was not supposed to contain tree nuts, to which she is allergic. After using her own EpiPen that she carried on board, “my throat remained extremely tight, and I was terrified that it would not improve without a second shot,” Jordon told CNN.
Almost 6% of adults and children in the US have a food allergy, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Those food allergies are life-threatening for 33 million Americans, with a food allergy reaction sending someone to the emergency room every three minutes, according to FARE.
In-flight medical emergencies occur on about 1 in every 604 flights, and allergic reactions occur “often,” accounting for 1.6% of those emergencies, a 2018 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found.
The Transportation Security Administration allows passengers to bring “medically necessary” EpiPens through airport security checkpoints.
