Opinion: There’s a less intimidating alternative to EpiPens for dangerous allergic reactions. Why won’t the FDA approve it?

My son Thomas has carried around a needle since he entered kindergarten at the age of 5. That was a big responsibility for a small child to carry an injector loaded with lifesaving epinephrine, but since he was 19 months old, he has worked with our entire family to manage his anaphylactic food allergies, asthma, and eosinophilic esophagitis.

We are not alone. In the U.S., more than 32 million suffer from food allergies: one in every 10 adults and one of every 13 children. Each year, 200,000 Americans require emergency medical care for allergic reactions to food; every three minutes, food allergies send someone to the emergency room. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates 2,000 hospitalizations and 150 deaths in the U.S. due to allergic reactions to food every year.

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