EFA eZine October 2005

Welcome to the October edition of the EFA online newsletter!

This month we have focused on several exciting new developments in environment and health policies and on WHO's new report on Chronic Disease as well as many other features that we hope you will find of interest.
Last week, EFA presented European Member of Parliament Liz Lynne with our 'Fighting for Breath' report on European patients with Severe Asthma. As an asthma sufferer herself, Liz Lynne graciously accepted the report and you can find a full article and a photograph of EFA President Svein-Erik Myrseth presenting the report at: http://www.lizlynne.org.uk/news/454.html

This month we also received a copy of the 'Allergy Free Passport - Let's Eat Out!' - a practical manual for managing food allergies successfully and dining out without too much hassle. AllergyFree Passport is a media company dedicated to empowering individuals with food allergies and specialized diets to safely eat out, travel and explore the world. While EFA has not reviewed the manual or endorsed it formally, we are delighted that Allergy Free Passport have very kindly agreed to send a copy of the guide to each of our members. We look forward to hearing your views and reviews of the guide!

Please do not hesitate to mail us your latest news and we would be happy to include it in our monthly newsletter.
Best wishes from the EFA Central Office and Board.

EFA AGM

We would like to remind you that the EFA AGM will be taking place in Prague on 10 May 2006 followed by the EFA Conference 10-12 May 2005. The focus of the conference will be on Doctor/Patient Communication, From Allergic Rhinitis to Asthma and From Smoking to COPD.
The conference secretariat is Guarant International efa2006@guarant.cz

World COPD Day 2005

World COPD DAY is on 16 November 2005 and its theme this year is "Breathless not Helpless!"- a positive theme that emphasizes that there is help for COPD. Refer to Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (GOLD) website for more details: http://www.goldcopd.org/PlanYourWorldCOPDDayEvent.asp?l1=3&l2=2
EFA will be sending members press materials and tools to help with your own COPD activities.

Lithuanian National Asthma Congress

Both EFA and ERS supported the third Lithuanian National Asthma Congress, that was organised on 8 October 2005 in Vilnius by the Lithuanian Pulmonology Society in collaboration with the Lithuanian Council of Asthma Clubs among others. EFA co-organised a capacity building session for patients and Svein-Erik Myrseth spoke about the patient perspective asthma to health professionals. A report of the event is available to members on the EFA website. EFA would like to thank our friends and colleagues in Lithuania for their hearty hospitality and congratulate for a successful Congress!

Vote to remove hazardous chemicals from circulation

A new law (a.k.a REACH) designed to remove potentially toxic substances from circulation by getting the industry to provide information on chemicals used in everyday products was widely debated, amended and voted in the European Parliament on 4 October 2005. Though the industry claims that the costs involved in such regulation will cripple competitiveness, EFA and other health and environmental groups see room for even stronger measures. A final plenary discussion will take place on 16 November and we will keep you informed. Source: EUobserver.com 04-10-04 

New clean air strategy proposed by European Commission

On 21 September 2005 the European Commission proposed a long awaited and ambitious strategy to achieve further improvements in air quality across Europe. The Thematic Strategy on indoor and outdoor air pollution aims to cut the annual number of premature deaths from air pollution-related diseases by almost 40% from the 2000 level by 2020.
Source: The Letter no. 226, 26 September 2005
http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/05/1170&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=fr To see how this fits into the context of the European actions on environment and health see EFA's briefing on EU Environment Policy (members only) http://www.efanet.org/members/documents/EnvironmentPolicy.doc

Implementation of SCALE

The EU Consultative Forum on Environment and Health met on 19 October 2005. The progress of the SCALE Environment and Health Action Plan 2004-2010, shared initiative of DGs Environment, Health and Consumer Protection and Research will be discussed by the Commission and the NGO community, including EFA in the meeting. The NGOs have been anxious to see concrete actions to take place based on already available evidence and true coordination between the policy areas concerned. EFA was represented by Susanna Palkonen. More on this in the next ezine. For more information on the initiative: http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/health/index_en.htm

EU Health Policy Open Forum 2005

The Health Policy Open Forum is due to take place on 7-8 November 2005. It is an annual conference and exhibition event, which aims to provide a platform for networking and exchange of ideas and views of different stakeholders of the European health community. The draft agenda has been released and is available online. It includes a plenary session entitled ‘Health challenges and future strategy: does Europe matter?’ and workshops on: Development of the EU Health Strategy; Health Products; and Health Services. EFA will be represented at the forum and we will keep you informed. Source: DG SANCO, 27 September 2005

New WHO report on chronic disease

The World Health Organization has stated that in the WHO European region, chronic diseases, including respiratory diseases are projected to account for 86% of deaths. According to the report, at least 80% of  deaths from heart disease, stroke, cancer and adult-onset diabetes could be prevented over the next 10 years. Tobacco, poor diet and insufficient exercise are the main causes for deaths from these preventable diseases. In its report "Preventing chronic diseases: a vital investment" , the WHO is calling for a series of measures to be introduced in order to reach the target of cutting deaths by an extra 2% per year by 2015.
Overviews of the report are available in English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish, and abundance of information sheets and country specific data at WHO website: Source: http://www.who.int/chp/chronic_disease_report/en/index.html

Smoking ban in Spain

As of 1st January 2006 a new law banning smoking at workplaces is due to come into force in Spain, which also regulates the sale, advertising and distribution of tobacco products.
The sale of tobacco to minors (i.e. under 18) will be forbidden, as will smoking and the sale of tobacco products in public buildings and administrative buildings including adjoining buildings, medical and health facilities, schools, educational and cultural facilities and in sports facilities.
Smoking will be permitted in theatres, airports and bus stations in specific smoking areas. Bars and restaurants will be permitted to create smoking areas, if these are clearly indicated and separated, only if the area is greater than 100m².

The proposal is due to be presented to the Senate for final approval in November 2005 and when the ban comes into force, EFA will expect to see a decrease in tobacco related illnesses in Spain!
Spain will be joining a number of other European countries such as Norway, Sweden and Ireland with a full or partial ban on smoking indoors.
Source: El Mundo newspaper 05-10-05 via ENSP