UK suffering from 'allergy epidemic'

Last Modified: 26 Sep 2007
Source: ITN

Tough action is needed to tackle what has been described as Britain's "allergy epidemic".

An influential House of Lords committee said there had been a rapid growth in the number of allergy sufferers and called for new specialist treatment centres to be set up.

The Science and Technology Committee also recommended an overhaul of food labelling regulations to improve on "vague and defensive" information such as "may contain nuts".

Members found that allergies cost the NHS in England £1 billion a year for medication and treatment.

The committee also heard that the cost to the UK economy of asthma is £2.3 billion a year.

Crossbencher Baroness Finlay of Llandaff, who chaired the sub-committee which produced the report, said there had been a rapid growth in the amount of people suffering from allergies.

She said: "This phenomenon is not unique to the United Kingdom. Many developed countries in the Western world have seen a rapid increase in the prevalence of allergic disorders in the last half century, coupled with an increasing severity and complexity of these diseases."

Baroness Finlay said the cause of the increase was probably down to a "multitude of genetic and environmental factors" and called for increased funding for research into the epidemic.

The committee proposed creating new allergy centres in every Strategic Health Authorities, headed by an allergy expert but bringing together medics from other specialities.

These would act as a "centre of expertise", diagnosing and treating patients and helping educate and train GPs and nurses.

The committee urged health regulator National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) to carry out a review of immunotherapy as a long-term treatment for allergies.

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