Pollen Warning

Climate change is causing plants to release more pollen in spring and for longer, which could make seasonal allergy cases worse, the effect of this can already be seen this years, this early, in some regions.

Spring and summer are increasingly warmer and longer seasons due to the increase in Earth’s temperature because of climate change. This causes plants to release more pollen and for longer than in previous times. As a result, it is expected that the number of people allergic to pollen will grow in numbers.

We have already seen the effect of this being announced as a warning in certain UK areas.

These are the data from a study led by Lewis Ziska of the United States Department of Agriculture. They analysed data on the variation in the pollen concentration of flowers that cause allergies in humans. They focused on 17 areas of the northern hemisphere and on data recorded over 26 years. By relating them to the variations in temperature produced by climate change, they found that, in areas with higher temperatures due to climate change, there were higher concentrations of pollen.

Of all the areas analysed, 71% showed a very significant increase in the amount of pollen in the environment. In addition, in 65% the pollen production season (between early spring and early summer) lengthened with the increase in temperature.

An increase in allergy cases would bring with it higher healthcare costs. More drugs, inhalers and, in the most severe cases, hospitalization would be necessary.

In 2018 the US government already allocated 18,000 million dollars just for this disease. In 2020, spring came faster than ever and was much warmer than in previous years.