By Malika Samat

Following the passage of Maryland House Bill 1437 in Oct. 2018, the University of Maryland will be adding EpiPens for public use in its on-campus dining halls. The bill, which was passed with the help of UHC director Dr. David McBride and director of dining services Colleen Wright-Riva, will allow the state’s universities to publicly provide the life-saving drug administration tool that treats individuals with food allergies.

EpiPens contain epinephrine, a drug that treats allergic reactions to food and can be injected into a person’s side upon ingestion. Such an injection will delay a person’s allergic reaction until they can receive medical attention. According to Food Allergy Research and Education, an allergic reaction is treated in American hospitals every three minutes, and overall, one in every ten adults has a serious allergy to a common food. Given the prevalence of food allergies, there’s a good chance that having EpiPens available in dining establishments will help prevent serious reactions.

Freshman government and politics student Connor Shea, who has a life-threatening allergy to peanuts, expressed his support for the measure. He described it as a necessary step by the university to better support the health and well-being of their students. Undeclared freshman Jordan Zane echoed this sentiment and considers the move by the University of Maryland to be a small precaution that could have a big impact. Zane, also allergic to peanuts, remarked that it’s common for people who have food allergies to consider carrying their own EpiPen to be an encumbrance. Considering the low probability a person with food allergies will have a reaction, due to careful ingredient label reading, bringing an EpiPen everywhere you eat seems unnecessary. Considering the high cost of EpiPens and their lack of coverage on most insurance plans, having the tool publicly available might save the life of someone who otherwise couldn’t afford it.

However, not all students considered the move by the university to be effective. Freshman computer science major Iman Durrani, who is allergic to tree nuts, described the policy as a precaution that doesn’t need to be taken. Iman remarked that those with food allergies should instead pay careful attention to what they eat and that having an EpiPen available on site might encourage students with food allergies to take more risks when deciding what to eat. However, Durrani conceded that such a policy is probably for the best, remarking that she has used an EpiPen twice to prevent a life-threatening food allergy reaction.

EpiPens will be placed in the University of Maryland’s dining halls this week. They will be located next to the dining hall’s AED device and will set off an alarm to the hall’s staff that someone is in need of medical assistance.