Position Paper: Allergen standardization and skin tests.

The Executive Committee of the European Academy of Allergology and Clinical Immunology, during its annual meeting in Glasgow, Scotland, in July 1990, decided to transform the Subcommittee on Skin Tests to the Subcommittee on AIlergen Standardization and Skin Tests. Furthermore, the business meeting of this Subcommittee decided to produce a revised version of the 1989 Position Paper on skin tests used in type 1 allergy skin testing and include in the new version a chapter on "Allergen standardization by in vito and in vivo methods," replacing the chapter on "Biologic standardization." The new chapter includes a general description of factors which affect the potency, and composition of allergen extracts and a second part focusing on standardization of allergenic extracts used for skin testing.