Josh Imhof | features editor

As I rode in the back of my mom’s car to the hospital, I could only think of one thing.

“Will this be the time I finally stop breathing?”

The thought disturbed me as I silently panicked on the 15 minute drive to the emergency room, while I ran through the events of the last hour in my mind.

I had just gotten home from the grocery store where my mom and I would often buy vegetable rolls from the sushi bar together. The rolls came in packs of eight, and because I did not eat much at school, I would often eat the entire package in one sitting.

I did not enjoy coming home hungry, but it was more comfortable than the alternative.

I have severe food allergies to dairy and eggs, and I was often bullied for them. About 33 million Americans, nearly 1 in 10 people, suffer from at least one food allergy, according to the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network.

Of those who are children, over 31% have experienced bullying as a direct result of their allergy, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

For me, it happened in school cafeterias, birthday parties and at friends’ houses. This bullying caused me to not eat at school, along with the additional stress.

In one instance, two of my classmates threw Cheetos at me because they knew I was allergic to them.

So, when I got home, I plunged into the sushi rolls like I normally did. Within about 10 minutes, they were all gone.

But this time, something was wrong.

I began to experience an itching sensation in my mouth, followed by extreme salivation and then finally a hot, warm feeling in my stomach. These symptoms were, unfortunately, familiar to me, but I had no idea how they were happening.

I dug the sushi package out of the trash and meticulously scanned the ingredients line by line.

Rice, vinegar, soy sauce, seaweed, carrots, egg whites, cucumbers, avocado …

The words practically jumped off the page as my eyes darted back to them.

Egg whites.

I immediately ran upstairs, and, as I told my mom what had happened, I began to projectile vomit.

I was terrified, and this reaction was something that could have been easily prevented.

Under the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA), companies are required to disclose the presence of the “Big 8,” or the 8 major food allergens in their products: milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish, wheat and soybeans.

On many labels, this will be done in the “contains” section at the bottom of the ingredients list. This is a bold lettered line of text that lists the allergens out specifically. However, not all products use this strategy.

Companies can also label these allergens within the main ingredient list in parentheses next to the ingredient they are in. For example, flour (wheat).

This makes catching the actual allergen much more difficult and is what led to my reaction to the sushi. The allergen was only declared in the main list and my mom and I completely missed it, due to the smaller font.

In order for products to effectively communicate potential dangers, the bold “contains” list method should be required under an amendment to FALCPA. This would reduce accidents like mine and foster more transparency between a company and its consumer.

It would also help to reduce the 30,000 emergency room visits a year that are because of food related allergies according to data from the Centers for Disease Control. These visits are not cheap, and neither is the medication that prevents them.

For those who have lower-quality insurance or none at all, out of pockecosts for lifesaving allergen medication can be expensive.

One of the main treatments for anaphylaxis is epinephrine, a drug that reverses symptoms like swelling and inflammation. From 2007-2016, the list price for a two-pack of Epi-Pens, one of the most popular brand name epinephrine shots, went up from $93.88 to $608.61, according to Truven Health Analytics.

Large companies profit off the necessity of these medications and make it increasingly difficult for all of those who need the treatment to get their hands on it. No one should have to die because they cannot afford medicine.

Fortunately, these companies have been punished for this price gouging. In 2022, Epi-Pen’s owner, Mylan, had to cough up $264 million to consumers in a settlement approved by the United States District Court in Kansas, according to court documents. A different lawsuit against Pfizer was settled in 2021 for $345 million for similar reasons.

In order for these prices to stop increasing, courts must continue holding large pharmaceutical companies accountable, and companies should continue to expand assistance programs and discounts in order to make their products more affordable

Fortunately, I am still here to write this article. I did not stop breathing in the back of my mom’s car and was able to recover from my reaction. However, not everyone is so lucky. The CDC estimates that over 150-200 people die of allergic reactions each year.

While not every reaction is preventable, there are significant steps both everyday people and pharmaceutical companies can take in order to make them less frequent and less lethal.

It is the difference between life and death.

Josh Imhof can be reached at imhofj@duq.edu