( CNN ) -- Children should not die in schools . Children should not die from eating common foods . A minuscule speck of a peanut , not even visible , should not take a young child 's life in minutes . And yet this has happened in the past two years -- to 13-year-old Kaitlyn in Chicago and to 7-year-old Ammaria in Virginia . As the holidays approach and celebratory treats are brought into schools from home , we must ensure children with food allergies are safe . Congress can contribute to that by rapidly passing the School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act . This bill would provide states with incentives to require elementary schools and secondary schools to maintain , and permit school personnel to administer , epinephrine -- a form of adrenaline that eases hives and breathing difficulties and when injected , prevents rapid death . Quite reasonably , many people are a bit suspicious of the new hypersensitivity about foods , wondering if a little hysteria surrounds the issue . Most adults -- including me -- grew up in a world where PB & J was a staple . I do n't remember having a single friend whose food was restricted for fear of a reaction that could take his or her life . Unfortunately , and for reasons no one fully understands , food allergies have indeed become more common and more severe . In 2010 , I was part of a group of researchers at Northwestern University of Medicine who surveyed a demographically representative sample of 40,000 U.S. families . In a peer-reviewed study published in Pediatrics in June 2011 , we revealed our findings : One in 13 children in the U.S. has a food allergy , and 40 % of those have had a potentially life-threatening reaction such as difficulty breathing and throat constriction . To put that in perspective , that means two children in every school classroom , or almost 6 million American kids , have a food allergy that could potentially endanger their lives . And yet food is a part of almost everything children do . In school , they eat breakfast , lunch , snacks , treats . They eat special items for birthdays , holidays , and random celebrations . Even if every mother and father tries to be especially careful about what they send to school , no one can predict when a child with a food allergy will accidentally have a reaction to something . Fortunately , a simple and affordable solution can save lives and relieve at least some of the stress and anxiety about children 's well-being . In 2011 , the Chicago Public Schools put into place the Illinois School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act . All 681 Chicago public schools , collectively educating more than 400,000 children , have an epinephrine auto-injector to quickly administer the medicine needed to help save a child 's life in a severe allergy attack . School nurses and staff know exactly how to respond in a food allergy emergency . Congress has an opportunity to pass a similar bill before it ends its session . Sen. Richard Durbin introduced the School Access to Epinephrine Act on November 17 , 2011 . It can and should be passed . Why should the nation invest in preventing allergic reactions to foods in particular ? Many other equally urgent health issues -- asthma and obesity -- afflict schoolchildren . And , quite rightly , public health experts and school nurses are working on those health problems as well . But no one wants a child to die in minutes simply because she ate a cupcake at her friend 's school birthday party that was supposedly nut-free -- but had been packaged or made on a counter where nuts had been used . This bill will help schools have epinephrine auto-injectors on hand and trained staff for those emergencies . That could save the lives of those two children in each American classroom who are at risk . The opinions in this commentary are solely those of Ruchi Gupta .
Ruchi Gupta : Exposure to a peanut speck can kill an allergic schoolchild in minutes . This time of year , holiday snacks brought in from home carry allergy risks , she says . Gupta : Easy to save a life if schools have epinephrine on hand and can administer it . School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act crucial , she says , as allergies increase .