Anaphylaxis 101

In May 2005 the Ontario legislature voted unanimously to pass private member's Bill 3, also known as Sabrina's Law. The bill is designed to protect the estimated 40,000 anaphylactic students in Ontario public schools and is named after Sabrina Shannon, a 13 year-old Pembroke student who died from anaphylactic shock in 2003 after eating cross-contaminated French fries from her school cafeteria.

What Sabrina's Law means for Ontario schools
Dave Levac, the Brant MPP responsible for Sabrina's Law, explains that the precedent-setting bill is a three-pillared stool that requires every public school board to establish and maintain an anaphylaxis policy. According to a release from the Government of Ontario, the legislation requires that, as of January 1, 2006, all public school boards have policies that include:

• Training for school staff on dealing with life-threatening allergies on a regular basis (this would include training on the administering of EpiPens®);
• School administration will have prevention plans to protect students who are at risk for anaphylaxis;
• Emergency procedures in place for responding to an allergic child if he/she were to have an allergy reaction.