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Fate of Missouri Alpha-Gal Syndrome tracking bill unclear in final days of session

In the Missouri Legislature’s final days of session, a southern Missouri lawmaker says it’s unclear whether a bill that would track Alpha-Gal Syndrome (AGS) cases in Missouri will cross the finish line.

State Representative Matthew Overcast from House District 155 is the sponsor of House Bill 1855.

“It basically requires labs report to the Department of Health and Senior Services positive confirmations, lab confirmations of AGS. And in turn, the department annually would basically send a de-identified aggregated report to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with those statistics so our federal lawmakers have that information to advocate for funding to flow down.”

Overcast says Missouri lacks good data, research and public education surrounding AGS. He says it impacts agriculture.”

“I just helped write some letters of recommendations for the University of Missouri Extension Office because they want to do outreach to young farmers because we’re seeing a lot of farmers getting AGS. Individuals who wanted to take over the family farm now face a challenging situation where they either must walk away from that because they’re so sensitive they can’t handle their cattle or they have to hire more people to work on the farm, and that’s an increased operational expense.”

AGS is a food allergy triggered by a tick bite, that makes some people allergic to a sugar molecule called “alpha gal,” that’s found in mammals like beef, pork and lamb. Missouri’s Department of Health and Senior Services says AGS is becoming more common in the state, with up to 34,400 people affected since 2021.

Overcast says the fate of the bill is with the Missouri Senate. The bill recently passed the Missouri Senate Health committee, and it’s awaiting action on the floor.

“There have been conversations about wanting to revisit the opt-in, opt-out conversation that we overcame in the House. We’re currently working through that, but we’ve got it on a couple different bills in hopes of trying to get it across the finish line.”

He says confusion about AGS, privacy concerns and resistance to reporting requirements have slowed progress. It’s the second year he’s been sponsoring AGS legislation.

A similar bill in the Missouri Senate, SB 1630, sponsored by Senator Mary Coleman, and another tick-related bill, Senate Bill 887, sponsored by Senator Nick Schroer, are also under consideration, but in earlier stages of the process.

While he’s optimistic about the recent momentum of the bill, Overcast says he’s uncertain it will clear the finish line due to timing and end of session pressure.

The bill has the support of the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association and Missouri Farm Bureau.

Missouri’s State Legislative Session is scheduled to wrap up on Friday, May 15.