Allergies increase because of climate change

The amount of pollen in plants has increased in the last few decades due to the greenhouse effect, which has led to an increase in the number of pollen allergies.

Photo: ajc.com.

Dr. Renato Ariano, director of anti-allergy services at Bordighera Hospital, Italy, said that when the temperature rises, the chalk time of many plants is also longer. Besides the amount of pollen that plants produce also increases. The amount of pollen and the duration of exposure to pollen increased, causing an increase in the number of pollen allergies.

Healthday said that for nearly 30 years, experts at Bordighera Hospital have been monitoring the production of pollen in plants and the number of people allergic to chalk of five species: cypress, olives, birch, grass. and wall hemp. These are the most pollenous plants in Bordighera, Italy.

Between 1981 and 2007, the team found that the chalk season of plants began earlier than before. Particularly for the hemp and olive trees, at the end of the study period their pollen season starts 80 days and 30 days earlier than in the first phase.

Also in nearly 30 years, researchers also examined the sensitivity of chalk to the five species.

'We found that the proportion of people who are allergic to olive pollen, wall spikes and knots increases continuously, but the proportion of people allergic to dust remains constant for 27 years,' said Giovanni Passalacqua, leader of the research team. expression.

Professor Estelle Levetin, head of the Department of Biology at the University of Tulsa in the US commented that the results of the Passalacqua group demonstrate that plants' pollen seasons can be prolonged and the amount of pollen can increase due to home effects glasses. According to Levetin, increased CO2 emissions make plants grow faster, thereby creating more pollen.

The professor said that people with pollen allergies should start taking drugs or applying treatments earlier than before, while maintaining a longer-term treatment effort.