In May, the FDA’s announced final changes to the Nutrition Facts Label found on packaged foods; this will have a huge impact on kidney disease patients!  Beginning on July 28, 2018, manufacturers must list the amount of potassium and calcium contained in packaged foods, making it easier for kidney patients to track their intake of both of these minerals since too much potassium and calcium can negatively impact kidney patients’ health.

Sign-ons for the Living Donor Protection Act (H.R. 4616/S. 2584) have continued to come in; thanks for
everyone’s efforts in encouraging your Members to join this important legislation.  This month, three additional Senators and five additional Representatives signed onto the legislation, bringing the total to 6 Senators and 29 Representatives.  See the blog “Off to a Great Start” or these links to the House and Senate for full sponsor lists, bill text, and other information.

Finally, we hosted our first Advocacy in Action Blog guest writer, Jim Myers.  Titled, “Why We Need to be Active on Social Media,” Jim wrote about the need for advocates to be active on social media, how to use this outlet to impact public policy, and what types of platforms we can use to further our message.  Congratulations again to Jim on receiving a kidney transplant on April 27^th!  We look forward to continuing this new tradition of guest bloggers in June.  Stay tuned!

If you have an interest in helping NKF engage policy makers on the issues important to kidney disease patients, or volunteering time to help educate elected officials, please contact Andrew Fullerton at Andrew.Fullerton@kidney.org.