Queensland citizens draws to the attention of the House the lack of treatment options available in Australia for persons with medically diagnosed food allergies. Sufferers live with the ever present risk of life threatening anaphylaxis because there is no cure. While there is no cure, there is a highly successful treatment offered overseas which has transformed the lives of people living with food allergies.

Oral Immunotherapy (OIT) allows those completing a course of desensitisation treatment to safely consume the foods to which they are allergic. Although Australia has the world’s highest rate of reported food allergies, there are no plans for the introduction of this form of treatment in Australia outside clinical trials. Current Australian clinical trials are narrowly focussed, deliberately concentrating on a very specific proportion of allergic children falling within rigid selection criteria. This stance means that people who most need this treatment are unable to access it.

In Quebec, Canada parents of children with food allergies successfully lobbied the Government to introduce an OIT pilot project. This project grants priority to food allergy sufferers whose lives have been physically and psychologically impacted the most.

Your petitioners, therefore, request the House to call on the Minister for Health to facilitate all necessary policy initiatives, legislation and administrative action required to establish an oral immunotherapy pilot project in Queensland.