09/10/2006 (Agence Europe) - On the eve of the second reading of the 7th framework programme for research and development, the GA²LEN “network of excellence” in allergies and asthma, whose coordinator is Professor Paul van Cauwenberghe of Ghent University, is calling on Community institutions to make allergies one of the main priorities of European health research over the next seven years. GA²LEN, which receives EU funding from the 6th framework programme, says that in Europe today one child in three suffers from some form of allergy and that, if trends are confirmed, half the European population will have some form of allergy within ten years. For more information: http://www.ga2len.net (oj)