View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. Archive content
January 22, 2004updated 17 May 2007 11:30am

Launch bids to boost allergy awareness

By Press Gazette

Millions of allergy sufferers are to be targeted by a new magazine that aims to raise allergy awareness.

Next week’s launch of A by magazine publisher Electric INK, on behalf of the charity Allergy UK, has been timed to coincide with National Food Allergy and Food Intolerance Week.

A total of 100,000 copies will be sent out initially to members of Allergy UK, selected allergy clinics and retail outlets, but circulation will be extended if it proves a success.

The title will target healthcare professionals as well as sufferers, providing real-life stories and advice on how to deal with allergies and who to contact.

The first issue features Viscount Simon, who had to be given oxygen after he was affected by a work colleague’s change of shampoo and Cindy Courtney, who struggles with relationships because she has an allergy to latex and sperm. It also features the story of teenager Jennifer Martin, who was so tired she could barely lift her head from the pillow and missed so much school she feared she would not be able to take her GCSEs – until food intolerance tests found she was allergic to carrots.

According to the magazine, 20 million people in the UK suffer from allergies, costing the UK £900m a year at GP level alone. The number of allergy sufferers is rising at 5 per cent a year, while peanut allergies have trebled in the past four years.

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

Allergy UK chief executive Muriel Simmons said research showed the health service had “failed to do enough to raise awareness” and give sufferers the help and information they needed. “While more people are being diagnosed with allergic conditions, they are just being left to get on with it and suffer in silence. A magazine will give these people a voice and help them manage their conditions more effectively,” she said.

The British Allergy Foundation relaunched its 84-page in-house title Allergy Free in 1999. After six months it relaunched again and changed its name to Living Allergy Free.

By Ruth Addicott

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network