An epidemic of allergic diseases is sweeping Britain while treatments languish and people’s lives are blighted, according to an influential House of Lords committee.

Britain is “the laughing stock of Europe” for its neglect of treatments that work and are routinely used elsewhere, said Baroness Finlay of Llandaff, who chaired an investigation by the Science and Technology Committee.

Allergies – which include hay fever, asthma, some skin conditions and peanut allergy – are often poorly diagnosed by GPs, who lack facilities to which they can refer patients for proper testing. As a result, many allergy patients go untreated while others go through life convinced that they are suffering from allergies they do not have.

Waiting lists for the few allergy clinics that exist are long, and would be longer still if the many neglected patients could be referred to them.

Teachers are poorly trained to deal with allergic emergencies, the food industry is lax about labelling foods that have the potential to kill and advice given by the Department of Health to pregnant women to avoid peanuts is baseless – and could even be making the situation worse.

Lady Finlay said that her committee was extremely alarmed by the advice to pregnant women, and to children from families with a history of allergy, to avoid peanuts. “Academics and clinicians have told us that a growing body of evidence suggested this guidance may not only be failing to prevent peanut allergy, but might even be counterproductive,” she said.

It was possible that exposure to peanuts in the womb or when young could prevent peanut allergy rather than cause it. The evidence did not justify the advice the department was giving, and it should be withdrawn.

In parts of the developing world where groundnuts were used in a “soup” for weaning babies, there had not been the explosion in the number of people allergic to peanuts, she said.

The committee recommended setting up a network of centres headed by an allergist and staffed by other specialists such as immunologists, dermatologists, paediatricians, gastroenterologists and chest medicine specialists. It also called for an overhaul of food labelling regulations to improve on “vague and defensive” information such as “may contain nuts”.

Allergies cost the NHS in England £1 billion a year for drugs and treatment, and the cost to the economy of asthma alone is £2.3 billion a year. Millions of people suffer allergies: 3.3 million suffer hay fever at some time in their lives and 5.7 million have asthma. Food allergies kill about 20 people a year through the severe reaction called anaphylactic shock.

Lady Finlay called for increased funding for research. The recommendation was welcomed by Stephen Holgate, of the University of Southampton, a leading expert. He said: “We need new environmental research, trying to find out what it is about our environment that causes allergies. We need to set up proper studies. This is the fourth report in recent years to criticise UK allergy treatments.”

The National Allergy Strategy Group said that the four reports had said much the same. “But the department has not acted to bring about change. Unless strategic health authorities and primary care trusts are directed to develop services, patient care will not improve.” The committee said more use should be made of immuno-therapy, where people are exposed to small doses of the substance that causes a reaction to “desensitise” them.

Ann Keen, the Health Minister, said that the Government would consider the report and publish a response.

A human malfunction

— Allergies are not diseases but malfunctions of the immune system

— They occur when there is an exaggerated response to foreign substances (allergens). Such substances include pollens, dust, spores, foods, chemicals and drugs

— The allergic response triggers the release of signalling chemicals that cause inflammation, sneezing, itching, wheezing and shortness of breath

— Allergies may change with time. Milk and egg allergies are common in young children, while hay fever tends to peak in the teenage years

— In extreme cases, the reaction can cause anaphylactic shock, where blood pressure falls, the throat and mouth swell, and it becomes impossible to draw breath. This can be fatal

— The Royal College of Physicians estimated in 2003 that there were 18 million allergy sufferers in Britain, and fewer than 100 full-time allergy specialists

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