What do those who pay for the research investigate?
- Food allergies have doubled in Europe in the last ten years -- and sometimes it rains. This terrible fact is the result of research work that was presented in the autumn, but the authors do not talk much about the reason for the rise. It's like it's normal. Let us finally see who is behind this research.
The International Symposium on Food Allergies was held in Barcelona from 10 to 12 November. Among others, the report on the EuroPrevall project was presented. The report contains the results of a study carried out in 25 countries, of which 19 are European. Almost 100,000 people have been studied by the authors of the huge research work, and the main conclusion is that, in the opinion of the signatory, food allergies have doubled in the last ten years.
The report summary (PDF) has been read on the Internet. That is where a lot is said. Dr. Montserrat Fernández Rivas, one of the main researchers of EuroPrevall, explains the objectives of the study as follows: “We wanted to know the actual situation of food allergies, to measure their prevalence, to develop new diagnostic methods and, above all, to determine the socioeconomic cost of this pathology and its impact on the quality of life of the European population.”
Allergies have doubled in ten years, and the reason for this increase is not in the summary of the document. What's that like? Should it not be a priority to develop preventive weapons (without denying the importance of improving diagnosis and treatment)? Should these disturbing figures not arouse the curiosity of scientists?
Who is EuroPrevall?
If we search for answers on the Internet, we will reach the website without great effort www.europrevall.org. In the big letter, at first, they explain that EuroPrevall is a multidisciplinary project, carried out in the European Union but with the participation of other countries. It consists of 67 members: health organizations, half a dozen companies not referred to by the name, associations leading allergy research (according to the website)... In a smaller letter it can be seen that the Institute of Food Research maintains the website. One more click.
The Institute of Food Research is a British organization. He is one of the world leaders in food health research and the prevention of food-related diseases, always according to his words. The BBSRC tells anyone who wants to know that it is one of the eight institutes that receives funding. BBSRC, for its part, are the initials of Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the Biotech and Biological Sciences Research Council, an organization created by the Government of BBSRC’s top decision-making body Londres.El is composed of seventeen members, of which at least seven have responsibility or share positions in some
major companies. Some food, including those that market genetically modified organisms, other pharmaceutical companies. This data is found on the BBSRC website itself.
Who pays for the study of allergies in the Spanish state
Now we come back to the international symposium to which we have referred. It is organized by SEAIC, the Spanish Association of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, whose president and vice-president, by the way, are two Basques: José María Olaguibel, Navarro allergist, and Ignacio Antepara, chief of the Department of Allergy at the Basurto Hospital. It was also Montserrat Fernández Rivas, already known, the president of the association a few years ago.
SEAIC is presented as a non-profit professional and scientific association, and as you can see on its website, they are closely related to another entity, the SEAIC Foundation, also non-profit, which must also serve its business card. This Foundation has an Board of Trustees, which includes “standards that are intended to subsidize the Foundation”, a total of eighteen companies, all of them belonging to the pharmaceutical industry, can be read. The list is available on the Facebook website for readers who want to know the details. The aid, for its part, is not limited to financing: These companies undertake to provide the Foundation with infrastructure, human and material resources.
Some questions
OK. Normal. If the food and drug industries are not interested in allergies caused by what we eat, who will show that? The question is why they do not answer a fundamental question: What has made the prevalence of allergies twice as high as a decade ago? What has changed in food? Or have we changed? Why does EuroPrevall talk so much about diagnosing and treating allergies and preventing so little? Will we have to accept what the EuroPrevall report suggests? I mean, allergies have doubled -- because they've doubled.
- Elikadura-alergiek eskolara joateko adinean dauden umeen %5eri eragiten die, eta helduen %8ri.
- Alergia daukan gaixo heldu baten kostua 1.280 dolarrekoa da urtean; herritarren batez bestekoaren bi halako. Umeen kasuan,
gastua hiru halako da.
- Fruta freskoak eta fruitu lehorrek eragiten dute Europan erreakzio alergiko gehienak.
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