BMELV Action Plan against Allergies

Source: godfer - Fotolia.com

Examples of this are the labelling of allergens in foodstuffs or the provision of allergy-related information about product groups such as cosmetics, jewellery, clothing and toys.

More and more people in Germany and many other industrial states have begun to suffer from allergic diseases over the past decades. There is a wide spectrum of substances that can trigger allergic reactions: we come into contact with allergenic substances every day, in particular via pollen, dust mites, foodstuffs and a large number of products.

Fields of action and objectives of the Action Plan

In order to increase the quality of life for allergy sufferers and to facilitate access to reliable information on all aspects of allergies, the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection launched its National Action Plan against Allergies in 2007.

The Action Plan is composed of eight key fields of action that correspond to different areas of life where allergies play a role:

1. "Eating and enjoyment"
2. "Beauty and care"
3. "Clothing and toys"
4. "Out and about "
5. "Monitoring"
6. "Communication"
7. "Building & home"
8. "Research"

In order to lower the allergy risk, the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection formulated five main objectives:

1. provide more safety and a better quality of life for allergy sufferers in everyday life,
2. reduce the number of new allergy sufferers,
3. detect newly emerging allergies at an early stage,
4. provide consumers with better information; and
5. relieve the national economy of avoidable costs.