Australia is all set to raise Food Allergy Awareness throughout May and will ‘Turn It Teal’ to shine a light on food allergies, which affect millions around the world.

This year, despite the COVID-19 Pandemic, we welcomed aboard Launceston, Tasmania, who was the first city to switch on the teal lights for 2020 and illuminated the stunning Launceston Town Hall from May 1st to May 4th, 2020.

This was the inaugural year for Tasmania to join the initiative and we thank all at Launceston City Council who helped to make this happen.

TURN IT TEAL was created by Cleveland, Ohio native Stephanie Lowe, who founded ‘Turn it Teal’ in 2014. The aim of which was to light as many prominent monuments and buildings as possible to highlight Food Allergy Awareness Month.
At TRIGGER Food Allergy Awareness we are proud to have helped to make the initiative global with the lighting of the Sydney Town Hall in 2017,
being the first building outside of North America to turn teal in support of Food Allergy Awareness, and have since lit Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and now Tasmania.

For more information about this initiative please visit turnitteal.org or email us at info@triggerawareness.org – Thank you.

This year, despite the unprecedented disruption of COVID-19, TRIGGER AWARENESS will once again join with TURN IT TEAL to raise food allergy awareness.

May is Food Allergy Awareness Month, a dedicated time to help increase awareness of food allergies and help to protect those at risk. TRIGGER AWARENESS will once again join with TURN IT TEAL to raise food allergy awareness by continuing to light prominent structures around the world in teal, the hue of food allergies.

This year Australia will continue to shine the teal spotlight in:

• We welcome Launceston, Tasmania, which joins the initiative this year and will light up the beautiful Launceston Town Hall from May 1 – May 4, 2020.
• Brisbane joined us in 2018 and this year will illuminate both its Story Bridge and Victoria Bridge on Monday, May 11.
• Perth will put a teal spotlight on food allergy awareness for the third consecutive year by lighting its Trafalgar Bridge in teal on Friday, 15th and Saturday, 16th May.

TURN IT TEAL was created by Cleveland, Ohio native Stephanie Lowe, who founded ‘Turn it Teal’ in 2014. The aim of which was to light as many prominent monuments and buildings as possible to highlight Food Allergy Awareness Month.
At TRIGGER Food Allergy Awareness we are proud to have helped to make the initiative global with the lighting of the Sydney Town Hall in 2017,
being the first building outside of North America to turn teal in support of Food Allergy Awareness.

For more information about this initiative please visit turnitteal.org or email us at info@triggerawareness.org – Thank you.

Breastfeeding mothers may be encouraged to eat eggs to help prevent babies from developing an egg allergy, according to new studies by researchers at The University of Western Australia.

Study leader Professor Valerie Verhasselt, from UWA’s School of Molecular Sciences, said the findings were important because in western countries up to 10% of children already have a food allergy at one year of age.

“Among high-risk population, one third are already sensitised to egg at 4 months of age and may experience severe allergic reaction if egg is introduced into their diet,” Professor Verhasselt said.

“Our study shows that protection could be induced through breastfeeding and before the introduction of any solid food to the child’s diet.”

The researchers were able to discover that some breastmilk components were more successful than others in preventing allergy.

“Ten years ago, we demonstrated in an animal model that you could educate the immune system of a baby to accept egg protein as well as protect the baby from egg allergy later on,” Professor Verhasselt said.

“Our new study shows for the first time that this may also happen in humans. We’ve found that cases of egg allergy in children are four times less likely when they have been exposed to breastmilk containing egg protein, compared to those exposed to breastmilk without detectable egg protein.”

Targeting house dust mites allergens in breastmilk may be an additional key to ensure food allergy prevention in breastfed children.

The team at UWA was also able to uncover that some mothers shed house dust mite allergens in breastmilk. House dust mite allergens are known to be responsible for respiratory allergies such as rhinitis and asthma.

“By conducting pre-clinical experiments, we demonstrated the very new concept that respiratory allergens in a baby’s gut may represent a risk factor for food allergies,” Professor Verhasselt said.

“Targeting respiratory allergens may be essential for prevention of egg allergy in breastfed children.”

Professor Verhasselt, who is also the Larssen-Rosenquist Chair in Human Lactology at UWA, said the studies, published in the journals Allergy and Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, showed researchers were on the path to preventing egg allergy through breastfeeding.

“Our data still needs to be confirmed in large randomised control trials to bring formal proof of this promising new approach of exposing babies to egg protein through breastmilk,” she said.

“Our research is aiming to find ways to prevent allergy and stop this modern world epidemic,” Professor Verhasselt said.

A new Australian study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology found that rates of children with food allergies have risen exponentially since the late 1990s – around the same time a new whooping cough vaccine was rolled out nationally.

Studies conducted so far show that the older ‘whole cell’ whooping cough vaccine potentially trained babies’ cells and immune system against food allergies as well. The older ‘whole cell’ whooping cough vaccine was eliminated in 1999 and replaced with a new version, amid reports Australian babies were suffering minor side effects, including fever and pain where the needle was injected.

Lead researcher Professor Tom Snelling, from Curtin University and Telethon Kids Institute, said that while both vaccines were effective in protection against whooping cough, findings pointed to the whole cell vaccine providing the additional benefit of reducing the risk of serious allergies.

Researchers are putting the call out for 3000 Australian babies to take part in a carefully controlled trial to prove the efficacy of the vaccine in preventing allergies.

“Participants will be followed until they are 12 months old to confirm whether the whole cell vaccine truly helps to protect against food allergies in infancy and, if successful, a new vaccine schedule could form part of an effective strategy to combat the rise in food allergies,” Professor Snelling added.

For more info or to participate in the study, https://vaccine.telethonkids.org.au/ or email OPTIMUM@telethonkids.org.au.

Allergy Sufferers and their families are calling for new regulations that require restaurants to
have color-coded plates to represent each type of allergen, to significantly reduce the risk of severe
anaphylactic reactions. Many people are supporting the idea, but many restauranteurs and small buisiness owners are against the idea, calling it more “red tape” they would have to adhere to.

Restaurant and Catering Industry Association executive Wes Lambert said they idea of mandating color coded plates is “absolute madness,” and that “Color-coded plates would mean that if someone ordered an allergy-free item and the restaurant had run out of the colored plate, they wouldn’t be able to serve the item.”

Other proposed ideas include a card that states allergens, that would be passed to the chef and the kitchen, and returned with the meal, “double-checking mechanisms” that make it impossible for the wrong plate to be served to the wrong person, and mandatory training for all food service workers, much like the safe alcohol practice laws.

A representative of Food Standards Australia New Zealand said it was reviewing food safety regulations and “working closely with the food industry, consumer groups and government … to look at ways to manage the risks associated with food allergens”.

The survivalist who is allergic to bee stings, was stung and quickly went into anaphylactic shock while filming his new series Treasure Island.

Sometimes, exposure to an allergen can cause a life-threatening allergic reaction known as anaphylaxis. Allergies to food, insect stings, medications and latex are most frequently associated with anaphylaxis.

Grylls was on a boat taking a new group of contestants to an island in a remote part of the Pacific on the first day of filming when he was stung by a bee.

Despite initially trying to shrug it off, the allergic reaction caused his face to swell up and he lost consciousness.

Medics brought the former SAS servicemen back from the brink after they injected him with an EpiPen.
Mano Shanmuganathan, a brain surgeon appearing on the show says ‘The irony of Bear the survivalist being stung, having the potential of an allergic reaction, and needing to be treated with an EpiPen, was a bizarre moment’.

An American teacher with a potentially fatal banana allergy was hospitalised after being attacked with the fruit by her students.

The art teacher, identified only as Mrs Woods, was working at Starling K-8 school in Columbus, Ohio when the cruel incident occurred last November.

The woman’s banana allergy is well known and so severe her classroom door bears a sign which reads “Banana Free Zone”.

It is accompanied by the clear message: “Mrs Woods is allergic to BANANAS! If you had one today, you must wash your hands before going into the art room. Thank you!”

But that didn’t deter a group of 12 and 13-year-olds from targeting her with a practical joke that seriously backfired.

The group of three students, two boys and one girl smeared bits of banana on Mrs Woods’ classroom door and doorknob, and later threw bananas at her once she was inside the room.

Within 15 minutes, the educator had gone into anaphylactic shock and emergency services was called.

Mrs Woods was rushed to hospital and thankfully recovered from her ordeal.

The students were charged with assault in juvenile court, were expelled and have since served probation.

Columbus City Schools spokesman Scott Wortman says the district hopes it was a “teachable moment” for the students involved and others about “the potentially life-threatening consequences of food allergies.”

A recent Department of Transportation ruling may transform air travel for passengers with life-threatening food allergies by extending to them the protections afforded other individuals with disabilities.

In September 2016, gate agents for American Airlines refused Nicole Mackenzie’s request to preboard a flight from Portland, Ore., to Charlotte, N.C., to clean the area around the seat assigned to her seven-year-old daughter, who has life-threatening nut and seed allergies.

The family filed a formal complaint with the federal Department of Transportation. Regulators determined that American Airlines had violated the Air Carrier Access Act — roughly the equivalent of the Americans With Disabilities Act, but applicable to the airlines.

The D.O.T. considers severe allergies a disability under the act if they impact a passenger’s ability to breathe or substantially impact another major life activity.

Regulators have reiterated that airlines must offer preboarding to passengers with severe allergies to give them extra time to wipe down seating surfaces.

A new cell type that could stop allergies before they begin has been discovered by researchers at The Australian National University (ANU).

The finding gives hope to people who live with a range of allergic conditions including asthma, eczema and life-threatening anaphylaxis.

“By carefully studying the tonsils of children undergoing routine tonsillectomies, we identified a new cell type of the immune system that may help prevent allergies,” said lead researcher and PhD scholar Pablo F Canete.

“In allergic individuals, the immune system thinks that harmless particles like peanuts, dust or common allergens are a threat.

“The immune system then mounts a response which manifests itself from mild localised symptoms like a runny nose during hay fever season, to very aggressive systemic inflammation like anaphylaxis.”

For people with allergies, when the immune system overreacts to allergens – like pollen, dust or peanut butter – it produces antibodies called Immunoglobulin E, (IgE).

The IgE antibodies then trigger a chain of events that result in allergic reactions.

“Our study shows this previously unknown cell prevents the formation of IgE, which is the key trigger of allergic conditions,” said Mr Canete, who is based in the ANU John Curtin School of Medical Research.

“The cell stops the very first step in causing an allergic disease.

“If you don’t have excessive IgE levels, you generally do not develop allergies.”

The discovery could create a new approach for future allergy treatments.