This year’s federal budget passed by Congress and signed by President Biden includes millions of dollars to increase food allergy research funding and add protections for children with life-threatening food allergies.
Specifically, the bill provides an additional $3 million for NIAID’s Consortium of Food Allergy Research (CoFAR) raising its 2022 fiscal year total to $9.1 million, a 49.1% increase. The funds will expand CoFAR’s clinical research network while adding new “centers of excellence” in food allergy clinical care. These chosen centers will all have proven expertise in food allergy research—a critical factor in ensuring focused research efforts.
Also of significant importance is $2 million “for a school-based effort to address food allergies and reduce potentially fatal anaphylactic reactions,” awarded to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) through its Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion work. The funds will help protect the nearly six million children with life-threatening food allergies in our schools.
Said Dr Bruce Roberts, Food Allergy Research and Education’s (FARE’s) Interim CEO:
This spending allocation is a significant step forward in our tireless efforts to improve the quality of life for 32 million Americans living with food allergies. We are especially proud of the hard work of our advocacy team in helping to secure these critical dollars and additional focus on this life-threatening chronic disease of food allergy.
If you have unlimited time and patience, you can click here to read the entire budget measure, but we recommend finding the specific references to the funding above by clicking here and viewing pages 29 and 55.
Our thanks to FARE for their work advocating for the food allergy community and helping to secure the funds for these efforts, especially during this time when Congress is especially polarized.
