By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, Oct 5 (Reuters) – A group of Democratic lawmakers urged the Federal Aviation Administration on Monday not to relax a requirement that all US airlines keep epinephrine on board flights for medical emergencies, especially severe allergic reactions.
“Having multiple doses of epinephrine on every aircraft, in delivery methods that can be easily self-administered by individuals without medical training, is more urgent than ever,” said the letter sent by Senators Tammy Duckworth, Chuck Schumer, Cory Booker, Richard Blumenthal and Tammy Baldwin, as well as Representative Doris Matsui and more than a dozen other lawmakers.
The lawmakers said it was crucial given “the on-flight presence of food items containing unlabeled allergens, a steady increase in the number of children with food allergies, the increased prevalence of a tick-borne illness that could create life-threatening allergies and the very real possibility that more than one passenger may require epinephrine during a single flight.”
The FAA in August proposed giving airlines flexibility in requirements for emergency medical kits on flights, dropping a checklist of medical items and setting performance-based standards requiring carriers to have sufficient resources to manage nine life-threatening conditions.
The FAA declined to comment but said it will “consider all applicable comments” before finalizing new regulations.
The lawmakers noted an FAA working group in 2025 recommended a “pre-measured auto-delivery device” for epinephrine be required in contrast with the agency’s proposed action.
The letter said JetBlue Airways, Southwest, Frontier and Breeze Airways stock their kits with epinephrine auto-injectors, and American Airlines’ includes both adult- and pediatric-dose epinephrine auto-injectors.
Delta Air Lines is transitioning its fleet to include auto-injectors in their kits by September 2027 and United Airlines and Allegiant Air will begin this year the work to include auto-injectors in kits.
The American Medical Association has also raised concerns, telling the FAA that “allowing individual airlines to determine their own medical supplies could compromise passenger safety during in-flight emergencies,” citing concerns about epinephrine and some diagnostic tools.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Aurora Ellis)
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