Asthma is such a common condition, it’s easy to forget how lethal it can be. But in a severe attack, just a few panicky minutes can mean the difference between life and death. Children and teens with asthma are at particular risk, since the rapid-relief inhaled medicines they need to keep their airways open may be in the keeping of adults and not readily available.

Maine has among the highest rates of asthma in the nation. According to Ken Huhn, chairman of the Maine Asthma Council, about 128,000 Mainers suffer from asthma, at least 28,000 of them children.

Last year, Maine lawmakers passed legislation requiring the Department of Education to revise medication regulations specifically to allow minors with asthma to carry and administer their own emergency inhalers at school, rather than insisting that these life-saving medications be kept by the school nurse or in the administrative office with other medications. The changes also apply to epinephrine “pens,” emergency doses of the injectable hormone that counteracts life-threatening reactions to insect stings and other environmental allergens.

This year, proposed legislation would expand that protection to children attending Maine’s roughly 225 summer day and residential camps. No law specifies how camps must handle campers’ medications, but most camps have developed strict policies that safeguard medicines in the infirmary or office. The initiative would require camps to develop rules that specifically allow campers to carry their own asthma inhalers and epinephrine pens, providing that:

. The camper’s parent or guardian and primary care provider approve.

. The camper’s parent or guardian verifies that the camper has the knowledge and skills to safely possess and use the medication.

. The camper satisfactorily demonstrates to camp officials the ability to self-administer the drug.

“It is simply ridiculous … kids can be on the verge of losing their lives because their medicines are in a lock-box in some office,” said Rep. Christopher Barstow, D-Gorham, sponsor of both the school and camp proposals.

Citing a 2002 case in which a 14-year-old Massachusetts boy died at a New Hampshire camp after an asthma attack, Barstow said he wants to make sure youngsters have access to emergency asthma and allergy medications “in all environments and settings.” New Hampshire lawmakers have since amended state regulations affecting the management of inhalers and epinephrine pens in schools and camps, as have several other states.

Portland attorney Jack Erlen, a lobbyist for the Maine Youth Camping Association, said camp health officers need to balance the benefit of allowing campers the responsibility of carrying and administering their own medication against the very real danger of their losing it. Erlen questioned the need to enact a law in response to the occasional tragedy, when overall the existing system works.

Bangor asthma and allergy specialist Dr. Paul Shapero said Monday that there’s little reason not to allow youngsters to carry their own medications at school, camp or elsewhere. He’s seen kids as young as 4 effectively self-administer their inhalers, and it’s hard accidentally or deliberately to abuse these drugs, he said.

In addition to giving children access to their emergency medications, Shapero said, it is important to teach kids, parents, camp counselors and educators to recognize when chronic asthma is not well-controlled. People of all ages who treat their breathing symptoms routinely with the quick-relief “rescue drugs” instead of the longer-acting medications that prevent crises are more likely to get into serious trouble with asthma, he said.

The public hearing on Barstow’s proposal, LD 52, will be held at 1 p.m. today in Room 209 of the Cross State Office Building in Augusta, with a work session to follow on Thursday.

For more information about managing childhood asthma, visit the Web site of Mothers of Asthmatics at www.aanma.org.