Aims of the Society

The principal aim of the Society is to promote the study and good practice of allergy, environmental and nutritional medicine, for the benefit of the public.

These interconnected disciplines offer an approach to diagnosis and to non-toxic treatment which is relevant to all medical practice, and has proved useful in patients with many very common conditions and with a range of intractable problems which have not responded to drugs or surgery.

The Society:

• Provides support and contact for doctors who use the insights of allergy, environmental and nutritional medicine to help patients to get well and keep themselves well
• Runs training courses for doctors and support staff
• Provides lists of doctors working in this field who accept patient referrals
• Organises scientific meetings at both national and international level
• Is pressing for these topics to be included in the undergraduate curriculum
• Is working towards a specialist qualification in this field

• Publishes a textbook, Environmental Medicine in Clinical Practice
• Supports the publication of the quarterly Journal of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine
• Prepares submissions for government and publishes reports on relevant issues, as appropriate
• Points doctors to sources of information in the form of books and clinical papers
• Publishes a regular members' newsletter for the exchange of ideas and information

Origins of the BSEM

The British Society for Allergy and Environmental Medicine was founded in 1983 to provide a forum for doctors interested in the role of allergy and environmental factors in chronic illness.

The British Society for Nutritional Medicine was founded the following year to promote the use and understanding of nutrition within the context of clinical medicine.

As the two societies evolved, it became clear that the aims of the societies overlapped, and in 1993 the two societies merged to form the British Society for Allergy, Environmental and Nutritional Medicine.

The society's name was changed to the British Society for Ecological Medicine in 2005, to reflect the wider aims of the society in addressing all the many environmental factors that affect modern medicine.