Half of population will suffer allergies

A massive rise in the number of people suffering allergies could mean that half the people in Britain and Europe have asthma or another allergic reaction within the next 11 years.

The escalating epidemic, particularly severe in Britain, is already causing millions of children to miss school - and, in severe cases, to go to hospital - and leading to huge numbers of adults staying off work.

There are more teenage asthma cases in the UK than any other European country. More than 32 per cent of our 13-to 14-year-olds are affected, a study by the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood has found, while 40 per cent of children have an allergy.

Only Ireland comes close, with 29 per cent of teenagers suffering asthma, while the next countries on the list are Malta and Finland at 16 per cent.

The warning comes days before the launch of a £10million project researching the causes of allergies and asthma is launched in Europe. Scientists from many countries will co-ordinate efforts in a bid to discover why rates are soaring and why children in the UK have the third-highest rate of asthma in the world; only Australia and New Zealand have worse teenage asthma figures.

Scientists believe it may be partly genetic. Researchers predict that within 11 years half of us will have an allergy which in some cases, such as bee or wasp stings, will be fatal and in others will seriously compromise our quality of life.

More than 30 per cent of people with allergies cannot go to restaurants or have to avoid perfumes, cleaning fluid or animals. Thirty years ago, about a third of asthma cases were said to be caused by allergy. Now it is 80 per cent. Professor Van Cauwenberge, of Ghent University in Belgium, who is heading the project, will bring together information and evidence on allergies.

The project, which will be launched on Thursday, will look at the possibility that the rise in allergies could be directly linked to the way we live - in bacteriafree homes eating semi-sterile food.