I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3560 
To require the Food and Drug Administration to carry out certain activities 
with respect to food choking hazards to children, including a program 
to provide education to the public. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 28, 2005 
Mr. HONDA (for himself and Mr. TOWNS) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To require the Food and Drug Administration to carry out 
certain activities with respect to food choking hazards 
to children, including a program to provide education 
to the public. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Food Choking Preven-
tion Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FOOD CHOKING HAZARDS IN CHILDREN. 
(a) EDUCATION.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 
Human Services, acting through the Commissioner 
of Food and Drugs (referred to in this section as the 
‘‘Commissioner’’), shall carry out a program to pro-
vide education to the public on food choking hazards 
to children, including education on preventing such 
hazards and performing life-saving procedures in the 
event of food choking. 
(2) CERTAIN
REQUIREMENTS.—The following 
applies with respect to the the program under para-
graph (1): 
(A) The Commissioner shall give priority 
to providing education to parents of children 
who are 14 years of age or younger, and to 
such children directly. 
(B) The means through which such edu-
cation is provided shall include the preparation 
of education materials to be distributed by pedi-
atricians, hospitals, day care centers, and 
schools. 
(C) Each year the Commissioner shall des-
ignate a particular week during which the ac-
tivities of the program will be intensified to pro-
vide for the broad dissemination to the public of 
the information with which the program is con-
cerned (referred to in this subsection as ‘‘pre-
vention week’’). The Commissioner shall provide 
a name for the prevention week, and shall make 
references to such name in promoting the week. 
(b) CLASSES DURING PREVENTION WEEK.—The 
Commissioner may make awards of grants or contracts for 
the purpose of holding, during the prevention week under 
subsection (a)(2)(C), classes for the public on preventing 
food choking hazards and performing life-saving proce-
dures in the event of food choking, including instruction 
on performing the technique known as cardiopulmonary 
resuscitation. 
(c) STUDY BY NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commissioner shall re-
quest the National Academy of Sciences to enter 
into an agreement to conduct, with respect to food 
choking hazards to children, a comprehensive 
study— 
(A) to assess the accuracy and adequacy of 
current data and data collection efforts; 
(B) to document the number and nature of 
incidents of food choking-related deaths and in-
juries by age group annually; 
(C) to consider the nature and causes of 
childhood food choking incidents;
(D) to establish criteria for determining 
whether a food poses a significant choking haz-
ard to children; and 
(E) to assess the opportunities and key im-
pediments to congressional, regulatory, and pri-
vate sector initiatives to reduce the number of 
child deaths and injuries due to food choking. 
(2) COMMITTEE OF LEADING EXPERTS.—The 
Commissioner shall ensure that the agreement under 
paragraph (1) provides that, in conducting the study 
under such paragraph, the National Academy of 
Sciences will convene a committee of leading experts 
and key stakeholders in the medical, consumer pro-
tection, and business communities. 
(3) REPORT.—The Commissioner shall ensure 
that the agreement under paragraph (1) provides 
that, not later than one year after the date on which 
the agreement is entered into, the study under such 
paragraph will be completed and a report providing 
the findings of the study will be submitted to the 
Commissioner and to the appropriate committees of 
the Congress. 
(4) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For 
the purpose of carrying out this subsection, there is 
authorized to be appropriated $800,000.
(d) REPORT ON SYSTEM FOR DATA COLLECTION ON 
DEATHS.—Not later than six months after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Commissioner shall report to 
the Congress on the reliability and utility of current sys-
tems for the collection of data on food choking-related 
deaths. 
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