Hon. Andrew Cardozo: Honourable senators, it is my privilege to introduce Bill S-247, An Act to establish a national framework on food allergy. I am especially pleased to introduce this bill in the month of May, which is Food Allergy Awareness Month.

I would like to begin by thanking Food Allergy Canada, a non‑profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of Canadians with food allergies.

Along with Senator Mohamed-Iqbal Ravalia and Member of Parliament Ben Lobb, we hosted a round table in February to consider this issue. Other senators who participated were Senators White and Youance, and I would like to thank them very much for being part of this.

Food allergy is a serious, chronic condition. Around 7.5% of Canadians, some 3 million people, have a food allergy, including 600,000 children. Every year, 25,000 infants are diagnosed, and 40% of those with a food allergy are allergic to more than one food. These millions of Canadians are living with life-threatening health conditions.

[Translation]

Allergic reactions come in a variety of forms, and a mild reaction in the past is no guarantee that future reactions will stay that way.

[English]

You simply do not know. Having a food allergy means being perpetually vigilant.

Peanut allergies have had fairly good awareness, but try avoiding milk in a situation where it’s not just a milk intolerance but a life-threatening allergy to milk. This is not just a food allergen, something unpleasant and that can be avoided. We’re talking about an allergy, an abnormal reaction of the immune system. It can be life-threatening. You can unknowingly be exposed to something that can kill you, and to avoid it, you are somewhat at the mercy of the behaviour of people around you. Eating out can be a real challenge.

While food allergy has always existed, it used to be a fairly uncommon condition. In the industrialized world, the prevalence of food allergy started rising in the 1980s. This increase accelerated through the following decades. We still don’t know for certain why, though there are a number of theories.

Epinephrine is the drug used to treat severe allergic reactions. It is significantly underutilized due to barriers such as cost, access to a device and a lack of education on how to use it. One issue is that we have been reliant on a single supplier. If that supply were to be cut off, millions of Canadians would be vulnerable.

We have developed promising new techniques that can help prevent food allergy and reduce severity in sufferers. I want to highlight that there has been a fundamental shift in how we approach this. It is no longer advised, as it was 20 years ago, that children avoid potentially allergenic foods. Parents are now told to get these foods into their children’s diets at an early age. The groundbreaking 2015 Learning Early About Peanut Allergy, or LEAP, study found that introducing peanuts during infancy reduced the development of this allergy by 80%. Additionally, oral immunotherapy is being used to aid sufferers by introducing small amounts of an allergen at an early age.

I’m pleased to report that, in the past month, Health Canada has approved a new epinephrine nasal spray. This is wonderful news because of its ease of application and because it diversifies our supply of essential medications. Access to allergists, however, remains limited, particularly in rural and remote areas.

The bill now before you seeks to bring about leadership. It mandates the federal government to work with provincial and territorial health departments, Indigenous governing bodies, health care professionals and patient groups to develop this national framework. The framework should identify ways of reducing the incidence of food allergy and the risks to which people with food allergy are exposed. These may include improving diagnosis and care, expanding the use of new developments, improving access to allergists, et cetera.

As I try to conclude on time, I want to close by highlighting one thing: The number of Bill S-247 is extremely wonderful because food allergy is a 24-7 issue. It is kind of funny and nice — a member of our team discovered that today — but it’s also really important. With a food allergy, you are allergic 24-7. You can’t say, “I’ll just take a pill and have a little bit of peanut butter.” You can’t say, “It’s a birthday party. We’ll look the other way.” There is no room for error.

On the one hand, it requires 24-7 vigilance. On the other hand, it requires us to work 24-7 on a cure for this.

With that, I thank you, colleagues, for your indulgence.

Hon. Senators: Hear, hear.