Food labelling call to save lives
Tuesday April 9th, 2013
A world-leading allergy expert has called for food labelling to be used across the world to help people who suffer from food allergies.
The
call comes as the World Allergy Organisation (WAO) launched World Allergy
Week yesterday to highlight the need for awareness and understanding of
food allergy.
Professor Ruby Pawankar, WAO president, said: “Large areas in the world lack legislation on food labelling, standardised national anaphylaxis action plans for food allergy, or access to adrenaline auto-injectors.
“These circumstances can be improved with the distribution of information and resources for physicians, patients, parents, schools, health ministries and throughout communities and by a call to action to policy makers.”
World Allergy Week has been launched to address the issue of rising numbers of food allergy across world. Globally, 220-250 million people are thought to suffer from food allergy and the number is growing, particularly among children
Foods are among the most common allergens and Professor Motohiro Ebisawa, chair of the WAO Communications Council, said: “Food sensitivity is not a simple disease … It has been increasing in severity and complexity. There are complications with food allergies caused by other allergic diseases such as asthma and atopic eczema. Moreover, food allergy can be fatal.”
Food Allergy Week will examine how to address a variety of safety and quality-of-life issues related to the care of patients with food sensitivity.
“There are problems that need to be addressed in many countries throughout the world,” said Prof Pawanker.
World Allergy Week 2013 comes ahead of the start of the world’s biggest food allergy study, Integrated Approaches to Food Allergen and Allergy Risk Management (iFAAM), within which the UK-based Anaphylaxis Campaign has been a key UK representative.
CEO Lynne Regent said: “We want to spread the word and let people know we’re here to help them, especially as anaphylaxis can be such an isolating and misunderstood condition.”
Tags: Allergies & Asthma | Diet & Food | World Health
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