Sixteen states enacted laws this year to stock epinephrine, a potentially life-saving drug administered to counter allergic reactions, the Associated Press reports.
They join the 11 other states that already had them, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. Bills are also pending in Ohio and Michigan.
A recent example of the medication's life-saving properties was when a Tennessee third-grader who had been stung by a wasp developed welts on his neck and had trouble breathing. Fortunately, school nurse Amanda Williams had the necessary dose of epinephrine to counter the allergic reaction.
She said the emergency room doctor told the boy's parents that he probably wouldn't have survived without the injection at Tellico Plains Elementary, as the school is about 30 minutes away from the closest hospital.
"It would have been tragic," she told the AP.
Only Virginia, Maryland, Nebraska and Nevada require schools to have the medication on hand, but all the laws allow schools to stock it without a prescription for an individual person, which is a legal hurdle in many places, and provide legal protection for staff members who administer it.
About 8 percent of children under age 18, or around 6 million, have at least one food allergy, according to the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.
The most common form of the medication is packaged inside a device called an auto injector. The tip of the device is placed firmly against the thigh, which releases a short, spring activated needle that injects the epinephrine, according to the AP report.
Charlotte Collins, senior vice president of public policy and advocacy for the allergy foundation, believes the trend was sparked by last year's death of a Virginia first-grader who had an allergic reaction on a playground after eating a nut. She went into cardiac arrest and died at a local hospital.
The little girl, who had a peanut allergy, could still be alive if her elementary school had been able to give her an epinephrine injection, medical experts say.
"Epinephrine is the first line treatment for these severe reactions," said Dr. Michael Pistiner, a pediatric allergist. "Studies show that delays in treatment with epinephrine increase risk of death."
Soon after the first-grader's death, Virginia passed a law requiring all its schools to stock epinephrine.
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