May 2010 issue

EU food allergen labelling: European Parliament to hold historical debate and vote

As announced in our April eZine, the vote at the European Parliament on the proposal for regulation on “the provision of food information to consumers”is approaching, date for plenary sitting is now 20th of May.MEPs will discuss and vote on the report adopted in the Environment, public health and food safety committee as well as on possible additional amendments.
This vote is of historical importance, as Members of the European Parliament have the opportunity to change the lives of people with food allergies and people with food intolerance.
Lives of people are at stake as unclear and non-precise allergen labelling can lead to fatal accidents. Food with allergens can be considered unsafe if not properly controlled and labelled.

The main concern for people with food allergy and intolerance in this vote is the Parliament Rapporteur’s proposal for non prepacked food. In her report, she proposes that companies selling food (such as bakeries, restaurants, and caterers) should have a sign stating  “cross-contamination cannot be avoided”, which would cancel responsibility of the enterprises for any good practice in managing food allergens and give legal backing to current wild and misleading precautionary labelling practices. In addition this would mean that the current situation for people with food allergy, whereby 7 out 10 severe allergic reactions happen while eating outside, wouldn’t really change.

The issue of the clear legibility of the label is also of particular importance in this vote, as font size is constantly pointed out as too small by people with food allergies, often less than 1mm when no book or magazine is printed in less than 2mm!
It is EFA’s view that this regulation is an opportunity to seize in order to take into account the daily needs of all European consumers regarding food information, including people with food allergy.

Marianella Salapatas, EFA President.

EU food allergen labelling: EFA actions

In preparation to this plenary, EFA issued a Position Paper on food labelling related to this proposal. EFA food allergy working group of members held its second meeting, and prepared a summary document on precautionary labelling (“may contain”) and cross contamination, with best practice examples from European countries on how to manage allergens, to show that establishing a safety chain for people with food allergies is possible.

They also worked on draft proposals for amendments to try to introduce these issues in the regulation, as well as other problems that are not addressed in it such as the labelling of changes of recipe which introduce a new allergen into a product. Such changes can cause accidents if the products have been consumed safely before by people with food allergies.

EFA prepared a template letter for members to be sent to the members of the European Parliament before this vote, as well as letters for Ministry of Health, and their health attachés in Brussels.

DG Research Open Information Day and Brokerage event on FP7 Health Research: registration open!

This event will take place at the Centre Albert Borschette, Brussels on the 8th of June 2010.
The purpose is to introduce the priorities, novelties and special features of the 2011 Work Programme of the EU Framework Programme for Research (FP7) which is due to be published in July 2010. It will provide guidance on proposal preparation and partnering. The event is organised by the Commission but the parallel sessions will involve relevant Commission officials as well as testimonials from participants and multipliers, including patients. In addition, workshops will focus on participation aspects of the FP7.  It will be followed by a Brokerage event organised by HEALTH-NCP-NET, which will offer the participants the possibility to present their organisation's expertise and specific interest in cooperation with international partners in the health sector.
You can sign up for this event at: https://infoday2010.regware.be
More information on the 2011 Work Programme and the related call(s) will be available on CORDIS: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/health

EU Open Health Forum in June, to be followed by EFA COPD event

The EU Health Forum is a consultation and information mechanism, which aims at making sure that the European Union Health Policy corresponds to the concern of the public. It is composed of two complementary parts, the Health Policy Forum, a group of NGOs which meet regularly in Brussels, and the Open Forum, a platform for general exchange of information and discussion with a broader range of stakeholders (health professionals' organisations, patient groups, public health NGOs and service providers and funders).

This Year’s Open Forum will take place on 29th and 30th of June. It will focus on integrating health in all EU policies. EFA is in the Steering Group for this event and is coordinating a workshop on Health and Environment: Integrating Health and Environment Policy towards better health, supported by the Health and Environment Alliance. The objective of this workshop is to discuss how the Commission should integrate health in EU environmental policies, and how the stakeholders can participate, as well as why it makes sense to “marry” environment and health.

Other workshops will deal with the place of health in the EU Cohesion policy, in the Agriculture and Food policies, and in the EU policy impact assessments. Innovation for Health and the role of stakeholders in the implementation of “health in all policies” will also be discussed through workshops.

Source: EU Public Health portal.
To sign up: Click here.

EFA Event at the European Parliament - COPDEuropean problem with European solutions

Our event on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease will take place at the European Parliament on the 30th of June, just after the EU Open Health Forum. The EFA Book on COPD in Europe will be presented at this event, hosted by Member of the European Parliament Catherine Stihler. The main purpose of the event is to launch a European Call to action on COPD that will highlight the need and actions for European strategic and concerted approach on COPD.
To see the draft programme: http://www.efanet.org/activities/documents/COPDEventAgendaEFADraft.doc

EFA member news: New "Oasis Allergies" magazine of the FPA (Belgium) and AFPRAL (France) now available

After 20 years of publication, the quarterly magazine of the Prevention des Allergies absl and Association Francaise pour la prevention des allergies“Oasis Allergies" has been renewed. It includes new issues like psychological problems linked with allergy, testimonials on celebrities with allergy, advice to consumers with allergy... and, of course, recipes from a famous French Cook and mother of allergic child, Véronique Olivier.
www.oasis-allergies.org
www.prevention-allergies.asso.fr

EFA member news: News and events of the ItalianCOPD Patient Association BPCOin May

In order to obtain the revision of the “essential levels of care” of the Italian Ministry of Health and including COPD among the list of chronic disabling diseases, the BPCO organises joint actions with other associations involved in respiratory diseases and with the National Panel of Patients with Chronic Disease of the Italian Active citizenship association. BPCO also organises dedicated events to raise awareness on COPD and to encourage cooperation between institutions, scientific societies, and patients’ organisations.

2 May the association organised a ‘Breathe Day’ event in Rome, as announced in EFA April eZine.29 May BPCO will organise the Giornata Nazionale del Respiro 'National Breath Day', thanks to the collaboration with FEDERASMA, the Italian asthma and allergy patient group and other associations dealing with respiratory diseases. This awareness event is targeted to the Institutions. Other events will be organised later this year.
www.pazientibpco.it

EFA in meetings in April and May

EFA held its Board Meeting followed by a Funding Partners Meeting on the 12th of April in Brussels.
EFA Board Member Breda Flood participated as a patient representative meeting at the European Medicines Agency.

EFA also attended the European Respiratory Society’s seminar on “Research and Respiratory Medicine: Addressing future challenges for improved lung health”. This event was hosted by Members of the European Parliament I. Tsoukalas and S. Hassi. It was organized as part of the Year of the Lung, and ERS President N. Siafakas presented new challenges that need to be addressed by research including the unexplained rise in asthma, lack of understanding of multiple forms of asthma, the absence of cure for COPD, and the ageing of population. To see ERS press release about the event: http://dev.ersnet.org/1687-medical-research-is-vital-to-inclusive-growth.htm

EFA attended the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe seminar on "Impact of Internet Pharmacy Services and Medicine Services on Patient Healthcare and Safety" hosted by MEPs A. Parvanova and M. Harkin.  Medical information and medicines are increasingly available online, which is according to them a growing concern because it can be misleading, and internet is a very important chain of supply for counterfeit medicines. The first session dealt with health service providers while the second focused on Patients Perspectives. In summary, the conclusion was that there is a need for more comprehensive regulations and cooperation at the EU level to ensure patient safety. Internet can offer new possibilities, but awareness among patients and consumers on risks needs to be raised.
To see a summary and video of the event: http://www.alde.eu/index.php?id=42&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=22553&no_cache=1

EFA also participated to the 4th European Patients’ Rights Day event “Putting citizens at the center of EU health policy”. This event was aimed at supporting the European Patients’ Right Day 18th April, as this initiative is not yet made official at the European level. The day is dedicated to raising the awareness among patients on their rights, and to promote these rights. Several MEPs together tabled a ‘written declaration’ in order to make it official, but the signatures of half of the MEPs are needed.
This written declaration should be available soon at: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/activities/plenary/writtenDecl.do?language=EN

More information: http://www.activecitizenship.net/

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