Irish experts to study fatal allergies

Leading Irish experts are set to participate in the world’s largest study into potentially fatal childhood allergies — which could uncover their hidden causes and force changes to food and drink labels.

The team from University College Cork has been asked to take part in the multimillion-euro project alongside specialists from Britain, Europe, Australia, and the US.

The €9m initiative, which starts this week, will focus on 14,000 children aged between 5 and 7 in an attempt to find new ways to protect an estimated 20m people in Europe alone who are at risk of deadly allergies.