NSW Primary Industries Minister Katrina Hodgkinson was exactly right when she recently said that society plays a vital role in managing food allergies.

There is a current movement by Australian food manufacturers and suppliers to increase the amount of gluten allowed in ‘gluten-free’ foods, essentially making them ‘gluten-low’ instead and if you’re a Coeliac disease sufferer or have related food allergies you take your chances. The most effective treatment for Coeliac and gluten sensitivity is the same as the treatment for food allergies-total avoidance of the offending substance.

The Australian Food and Grocery Council is asking Food Standards Australia New Zealand to ease its current standard, which states there must be no detectable gluten in foods labeled ”gluten-free” by raising it to contain up to 20 milligrams of gluten per kilogram, in line with British and European standards.

As one of the many concerned groups heading an initiative that deals on a daily basis with food allergy sufferers, as far as we can see, these proposed changes won’t assist sufferers in any way and if anything they will almost certainly compound the challenges faced with living with these medical conditions- in particular increasing the level of confusion over food labels.

Further studies on acceptable levels are urgently needed before any widespread or lasting changes are made to the current standards adhered to in Australia.

Manufacturing and testing costs are sited as primary driving factors for these proposed changes, but these are not acceptable health related reasons for the changes- in fact, as far as we can see other than monetary gain tied to many of those supporting these changes any change without further studies makes no sense.

With the increased amount of sufferers in our community it is imperative that we all share in the duty of care in assisting with the management of this medical conditions, particularly the food industry. It is paramount they accept their duty of care and start to place ‘health before wealth.’

‘Gluten-low but possibly still harmful’ does not equal ‘Gluten-free.’

Please share your thoughts. Thank You.

Today marks the first anniversary of the launch of our TRIGGER campaign.

What started out as a simple plan to make a film that was accessible to everyone in the hopes of raising awareness to help teachers- like my daughter’s kindergarten teacher (Mrs. E) who inspired the idea for the project – and families struggling to protect their children diagnosed with food allergies has put us on an awareness journey we could never imagined.

Launching TRIGGER, seeing the amazing response, experiencing some of the roadblocks has opened our eyes to the very real need to raise awareness and keep an honest, open dialogue going so we can all learn as much as possible.   Throughout this first year we have been blessed with many highs including acknowledgment via the World Allergy Organization, We were equally blessed and humbled to be acknowledge on the floor in the Australian Federal parliament. Thank you to Senator Fiona Nash and other politicians who recognized the importance of this project.

There were many other moments of support that gave us hope and inspired us to continue our efforts, We would like to thank every organisation who has helped us along the way including FREEDOM FOODS, The PTA (U.S), Early Childhood Australia, our friends in the media and the list goes on.

Finally, we would like to thank every single person who has helped us along the way- from our inner circle who go beyond the call of duty every day (Jo, BC, Malary, Monny, Angela, Vee ) to active parents/community members and of course – You, who are reading this now.

We want you to know that it is your likes, your emails and your passion that drives us harder on days when we are exhausted or have been deflated. These experiences have shown us the real need to have FREE information available to all.

Moving forward, We remain committed to providing FREE independent films and FREE resources until a Cure for Food Allergies is found.

Again, Thank You.

Grace

It was once believed that stomach ulcers were caused by too much acid, stress or even eating too much spicy food.

In the 1980s, Dr. Barry Marshall and Robin Warren discovered that ulcers were caused by a bacterium and thus, could be eliminated by antibiotics . In 2005 they won a Nobel Prize for their work.

Fast forward to today and Dr. Barry Marshall is currently Clinical Professor of Medicine and Microbiology at the University of Western Australia and the 61-year-old WA professor has completed successful studies on mice, and is now giving doses of the bacteria to humans in an attempt to eliminate food allergies.

We hope the professor is just as successful with this research so that people will be free from the dangers of food allergies.

Today we are excited to announce the launch of our TRIGGER school posters, which are available FREE to school systems in Australia and New Zealand.

The posters are designed to assist schools and teachers in providing safety tips on how to help keep food allergy sufferers safe at school.

Among the tips included is the importance of students washing hands after eating and why it’s vital that they NEVER share food with other children.

Our mission here at TRIGGER is to raise awareness by providing helpful FREE resources to assist the community.

We would like to express a heartfelt thank you to FREEDOM FOODS who have partnered with us and have been instrumental with the creation of the posters. Additionally, we want to thank Karen Boyes and her team at Spectrum Education for their efforts in supporting this campaign.

The ‘TRIGGER’ posters will be available to schools in Australia and New Zealand to start with and then we will hopefully expand to the U.S., U.K. and other territories. If you believe you can assist us with the distribution of these free posters or would like them for your child’s school please contact us at info@triggerallergy.com

Since creating and launching our TRIGGER film there has been one element of the film that has resonated with sufferers, parents, teachers and caregivers-  the often unspoken area of the related stress and anxiety experienced by not only those with food allergies but those trying to keep them safe.

We have been amazed by the amount of feedback from parents and teachers who, until seeing the film felt the stress and anxiety they felt trying to keep food allergy sufferers safe was theirs and theirs alone; most experiencing associated guilt not wanting to express the impact for fear of having it misinterpreted as complaining.

The truth of the matter is that keeping a food allergy sufferer safe requires non-stop vigilance day in and day out, not just what they are eating but what they are touching as well. While food allergies are manageable this never ending cycle of vigilance can impact on the sufferer and those caring for them.  It could also be possibly impacting on their own health as well?

Yet no one is talking about it? Why is that?

Shouldn’t this be an area that is addressed by the medical, scientific and food allergy community?

Shouldn’t this be discussed and researched so that policy makers get a better sense of what is going on in the real world and factor that in to better assist sufferers, their parents and teachers?

While it is important not to show your child the impact their food allergies is having on you,  it is also important to know that you’re  not alone and talking about your concerns and feelings with your doctor or friends is OK.

Research into this impact and a wider understanding of the issue needs to be addressed and policies implemented.

Please share your stories, thoughts and let’s get the conversation started.

Thank You.

We came across an interesting interview with Maria Acebal, former CEO of the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network, who says there is much work to be done finding a cure for food allergies; “The best hope we have right now for a treatment is immunotherapy and that is what people are putting their hopes in,” said Acebal. She further stated, “Before you can solve a problem, you must understand it.”

To date, researchers and scientists are at a loss to find the exact cause for the rapid global increase in food allergies with several theories being explored. In our TRIGGER film professor Hugh Sampson one of the worlds leading experts in the field, believes it is environmentally related. We agree, but what is it exactly?

Some speculate it is related to genetically modified food? GMO crops, which are genetically modified to make them grow faster, bear more fruit or create their own insecticide. Some point the finger at insecticides being used? While some believe ‘The Hygiene Hypothesis’ which is basically the idea that we keep our houses and environment too clean, which inadvertently weakens our immune system by removing early exposure to germs and allergens that would normally result in a stronger defense mechanism within the body.

Could it be Atmospheric pollution? or is it a lack of sunlight exposure and low vitamin D level (allergies and anaphylaxis are more common in the north and their prevalence decreases in the south)

Is is a combination of all these factors or is it something else?

We would like to know your thoughts.

With the rapid increase of diagnosed food allergies among children (Australia now leads the world) and the subsequent increase in related bullying at schools against children with these life-threatening conditions, it comes as a surprise to us at TRIGGER that there has been a recent call to end blanket food bans of those items most likely to cause an emergency in a school.There has even been an alarming claim by those who support reversing these bans that they actually do ‘more harm than good’.

The facts:

1. Currently there is no cure for food allergies.

2. No preventive medicine can be taken.

3. Only strict avoidance of the allergen in question can protect a child with allergies.

4. Every child deserves to be educated in a safe environment .

If ‘strict avoidance’ is the only way to truly protect a child who could die from a reaction, how can removing  the banned food from that child’s school environment possibly do ‘more harm than good?’

Put a loaded gun in the middle of playground crowded with children and who among us wouldn’t be nervous that something terrible was about to happen? Like-wise, wouldn’t all of us feel safer if someone was responsible enough to remove that gun from the reach of those children?

In fact, wouldn’t that be our duty as adults and parents?

We have conducted our own research and have found that most teachers and parents of food allergy children we interviewed feel there simply isn’t enough awareness among parents of non-allergic children about the life-threatening dangers of food allergies to warrant the removal of food allergy bans.

While current food bans obviously do not provide 100% protection and no set of protective measures or rules in schools is perfect, what they do provide is an additional safety net of sorts- an important layer of protection in a scenario that requires several layers including;  education of all parents/teachers/children about food allergies, how wrong bullying is,  emergency training etc

To reintroduce banned foods to schools at this stage is simply a recipe for disaster- a needless risk to young children.

Sadly, there are countless stories of a bully who picks up a stone pretending it’s food and chasing/teasing an allergic child with it. What happens when that same bully now receives permission to bring the banned food to school ?

Until a cure is found or awareness is at such a level that people fully realise they are dealing with a potentially life threatening situation-  no change should be made that clearly increases the risk. It simply makes no sense.

The safety of our children should be paramount regardless of the issue being discussed and until a cure is found for food allergies or awareness is raised to such a level that all children are virtually guaranteed to be safe in their schools, no food bans should be lifted and further independent research is required.

This issue I have raised today is not something that is above the radar or something that we talk about in this place very often, which is precisely the reason I wanted to raise it. It is a big issue for many parents and carers out there in the community who are trying to look after children who have a food allergy and trying to keep them safe day after day after day. Those of us with children who do not have this difficulty to deal with can only imagine what it must be like to be consciously vigilant day after day and indeed, as I said earlier, to deal with an emergency when it does occur.

Hopefully, we can reduce the prevalence of these incidents by raising awareness of food allergies right around the country and how important it is for all of us to understand and know that we need to be aware and that there are things we can do. Grace would very much like to see schools informed of the availability of the film and perhaps encouraged to disseminate the information to parents and to consider whether this is something they would like to place on their website. We need to look at every avenue we possibly can to make sure that we do raise awareness of this issue. Not only is it very important to Grace as a mother and to her family; she is reflective of all those families across the community that have to deal with this very difficult issue. It is a responsibility that falls to us in this place to raise that awareness and to make sure that people know about this very difficult condition.

You can find out more ;  www.fionanash.com.au