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Abstract: The information provided by pollen counts cannot be ignored by allergists and allergic individuals, but the divergence sometimes observed with clinical observations has led the réseau national de la surveillance aérobiologique (RNSA) to initiate the monitoring network of allergens by immunosampling (Monalisa) project. Moreover, some recent papers has shown the influence of pollution in the region and even of the year on the content in pollen allergens, particularly that of birch pollen. Thus, the goal of the Monalisa project was to set up a measuring system based on an immunological method that would result in validation of this new way of measuring airborne pollen counts. This European Life Environment project includes nine partners: Bertin Technologies (France), RNSA (France), NPARU (England), UCO (Spain), UTU (Finland), UAM (Poland), UEVORA (Portugal), AIA (Italy), and Meteoswiss (Switzerland). The results obtained during the 2006 season and then in the 2007 campaign, after modifications made in the sampler, were not very good. The principal results concern the measurement of birch and olive allergens, captured essentially in the prepollination period and sometimes in the postpollination period. Detection of these allergens may be due either to their presence on submicroscopic particles emitted independently of pollination, these allergens cross-reacting with birch and olive allergens. The difficulties encountered in this study lead us to say that pollen counts, phenological observations and clinical data are still the best way to assess the effects of airborne pollen. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to study the relation between climate change and the earliness of Birch pollination, a tree that produces allergenic pollen, which is of particular importance in north-western Europe. The study allowed us to make projections for the next few years in order to evaluate the evolution of Birch pollination starting date according to spring temperatures. It has been done in ten European locations, Kevo and Turku (Finland), London (United Kingdom), Paris and Lyon (France), Brussels (Belgium), Zürich (Switzerland), Vienna (Austria), Poznan and Cracow (Poland). The study period ranged from six to twenty-eight years depending on the city. Pollens were recorded daily thanks to volumetric Hirst traps, and the data were compared to monthly temperatures from January to May using correlations and multiple regressions. Except in Kevo where the trend is towards colder springs and a later pollination, in the other cities the results showed a spring warming associated with an earlier starting date of pollination: this trend is very well marked in Turku, Zürich, London, Vienna and Brussels, less evident in France while there is no trend in Poland. The results of this work should lead to an updating of the pollen calendars and the pollen forecast models, in the cities where there is a pronounced trend. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Much attention is now being focused on foods from genetically modified plants because of the risk of allergenicity. No such risk has been reported for the first generation of GM plants made resistant to herbicides and insect larvae. Current experiments with hypoallergenic GM plants are reported and discussed in the present paper. The second generation of GM plants will improve the nutritional aspects of natural foods. Transgenic proteins could reach from 4 up to 8% of the total protein content in these foods. Any potential difference in allergenicity between second generation GM plants and the natural varieties must be examined with respect to the risk for food allergy caused by food products made from these plants and the risk for respiratory allergies in the people living near the crops caused by airborne pollen originating from the plants. WHO–FAO directives as well as the Codex Alimentarius proposals and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) guidelines recommend that transgenic proteins be screened for homology (by in silico study) and cross-reactivity with known allergens, as well as being examined carefully for modifications of host-plant proteomes. In vivo animal studies are also to be carried out to assess any potential immunogenicity. Lacking adequate safety data, the absence of potential allergenicity of transgenic plants cannot be ruled out. This is why data that do not meet the recommended safety criteria required for commercialization of GM plants do not allow us to rule out absolutely the risk that may be associated with products that are going to be commercialized. Therefore, it is essential that commercialized GM plants be monitored. We propose the establishment of public reference serum banks based on up-to-date WHO–FAO recommendations concerning the selection of sera according to precise criteria. We also propose establishing a system of allergovigilance linking national and European health and food safety agencies and a network of university hospital-based clinical and laboratory reference centres, together with a network of clinical allergists, responsible for the creation of the serum banks. Allergists working through these networks would be able to identify new sensitizations to transgenic foods in the population, just as they now identify new types of food allergies, which, in this case, would be GM foods. Such a project is now being established in France. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Asthma morbidity and mortality have increased over the last ten years in most countries. In some countries now, it apears that asthma prevalence has reached a plateau. The increased prevalence, especially in children, should be explained by environnemental factors, since obviously our genes have not changed. In this paper, we will review the recent data concerning asthma prevalence, mortality, socio-economic impact and both environnemental and genetic risk factors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this paper, special consideration will be given to the following points: