Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

In the near future, I plan to introduce two bills to help those with Celiac disease and others with an intolerance to gluten to better identify products that contain this protein. This package of legislation would require that food and medicine distributed in Pennsylvania that contains gluten be properly labeled as such. 

 

Celiac disease, an illness caused by an autoimmune reaction to gluten, affects about 1% of the United States’ population, while another 6% of the population has an intolerance to gluten, meaning over 900,000 Pennsylvanians who ingest gluten suffer from symptoms such as hives, skin rash, nausea, stomach cramps, indigestion, vomiting, diarrhea, joint pain, infertility, early osteoporosis, bloating, and low blood counts. 

 

Under federal law, food products containing wheat must be labeled to identify its presence.  However, gluten can be found in grains other than wheat, including barley, oats, and rye.  Without properly labeling all products that contain gluten, we put many of our fellow citizens at risk of developing severe reactions to the food and medicine they ingest.  

 

Companion legislation to this package will be introduced by Representative Mary Jo Daley. Please join me in support of this effort to help those who have been diagnosed with Celiac disease and gluten intolerance to better identify food and medicine that could be harmful to them.