Following its summer break, EFA is proud to welcome you to our new-look website and newsletter!   This month sees the launch of the new EFA website and newsletter. The website is now a more interactive, informative and up-to-date tool for EFA members, patients and all those interested in keeping up to date with the issues of allergy, asthma and COPD in Europe.   New features include a public video and photo gallery, a calendar for upcoming

A historic result was recorded this month in Australia when its top court rejected a bid by some of the world’s largest tobacco companies to overturn a law requiring cigarettes to be sold in plain packaging. The plain packaging law, which was introduced in Australia last year, requires cigarettes to be sold in dark packages free from logos and colour, but featuring graphic images of smoking related diseases. Brand names can appear, but only in

This month EFA is preparing to co-host a patient symposium at the ERS Congress in Vienna, there is news on our presentation at a Food Allergy Training Course organised by EAACI, on a meeting of the Global Alliance of Respiratory Diseases in St. Petersburg and on an EU project to assess the harmful and often allergenic effects of ragweed in Europe. EFA also reports from various international meetings we have been attending and speaking attending  

EFA is preparing to co-host a symposium on ‘Patient views on respiratory allergies’ at the annual European Respiratory Society Congress in Vienna on the 4th of September this year. The symposium, subtitled ‘Raise awareness, release the burden’, will be co-hosted with the European Lung Foundation (ELF), and EFA board member Per-Ake Wecksell of the Swedish Asthma and Allergy Association will co-chair the event.   During the symposium,

EFA is pleased to invite you to the upcoming event “May Contain/Contains – Food Allergen Labelling” to be held at the European Parliament on the 19th of September 2012 from 18:00 to 20:30, kindly hosted by MEP Renate Sommer. This follows the adoption of the new EU Regulation on the provision of food information to consumers by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union last year. EFA broadly welcomed the Regulation as a

In the framework of the European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations, the Committee of Regions organised a forum to provide local and regional stakeholders with an opportunity to discuss their contributions and related issues on the 14th of February in Brussels. EFA was represented at the forum by Roberta Savli. After a general overview of the subject, given by key EU officials, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and

The EAACI (European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology) annual conference is to be held this year from June 16th to 20th in Geneva, under the official theme “At the Crossroads of Research, Practice and Education”. At the conference, the EAACI Patient Organisation’s Committee meeting will be held, with the participation of EFA president Breda Flood. This Committee was recently set up to bring some patient organisations together to facilitate

On March 7, the European Commission adopted a Directive introducing a set of 14 new written health warnings due to appear on tobacco packaging in the near future. The 14 warnings were chosen following a Eurobarometer survey conducted across the 27 Member States to test European perceptions of the dangers of tobacco, and establish how more effective risk warnings can be communicated to discourage uptake and encourage cessation. The survey showed that

The EU Health Programme is one of the EU’s main instruments for improving European public health. It proposes various funding schemes for European health initiatives, and after close examination of applications, offers funding and grants for conferences, so-called joint actions and other initiatives in the health field. The mid-term evaluation of the current EU Health Programme, which runs from 2008 to 2013, has recently taken place to assess if

The EU Health Programme is one of the EU’s main instruments for improving European public health. It proposes various funding schemes for European health initiatives, and after close examination of applications, offers funding and grants for conferences, so-called joint actions and other initiatives in the health field. The mid-term evaluation of the current EU Health Programme, which runs from 2008 to 2013, has recently taken place to assess if

On February 27th, David Brennan represented EFA at the IMI Open Info Day for its 5th Call for proposals in order to learn about the revised scientific research agenda. Due to the current involvement of EFA in the IMI project U-BIOPRED (Unbiased BIOmarkers in PREDiction of respiratory disease outcomes), it is in our interest to follow how the IMI evolves in its future calls. The updated structure of the strategic research agenda includes additional

On February 27th, David Brennan represented EFA at the IMI Open Info Day for its 5th Call for proposals in order to learn about the revised scientific research agenda. Due to the current involvement of EFA in the IMI project U-BIOPRED (Unbiased BIOmarkers in PREDiction of respiratory disease outcomes), it is in our interest to follow how the IMI evolves in its future calls. The updated structure of the strategic research agenda includes additional