Welcome, Guest

Author Topic: Not all pollen is the same  (Read 16635 times)

Offline max2

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1356
  • Gender: Male
Not all pollen is the same
« on: May 14, 2024, 07:47:17 am »


Climate change has led to a sharp rise in the number of people suffering from hay fever in Switzerland. A hundred years ago hay fever was largely unknown in Switzerland, but today it affects around one in five people in Switzerland.
This content was published on May 14, 2024 - 10:05
3 minutes
Keystone-SDA

Climate change has led to many allergy-causing plants releasing their pollen earlier and with greater intensity, according to a factsheet published by the Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT) on Tuesday. Climate change also favours the spread of invasive, highly allergenic plants such as ragweed.

Air pollution could also have contributed to the spread of hay fever. According to the researchers, plants stressed by poor air quality appear to produce pollen that triggers stronger allergic reactions. Air pollution can also damage people?s airways, which promotes asthma and hay fever.

+ Landmark ruling: Switzerland?s climate policy violates human rights

According to the factsheet, an estimated 0.8% of the population were allergic to pollen in 1926. Today, it is estimated that around 20% of people in Switzerland are affected. The increase in the frequency of allergies is therefore a global phenomenon.

In addition to the impact on the quality of life of those affected, this also has economic consequences: ?In Switzerland, it is estimated that they amount to between CHF1 billion ($1.1 billion) and CHF4 billion a year,? the factsheet says. This includes both direct costs for medication or hospitalisation as well as indirect costs due to reduced productivity and missed school and workdays.

+ City dwellers more likely to suffer from hay fever

The factsheet was compiled by researchers from the Swiss Commission for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, SCNAT and the Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology (MeteoSwiss).

The researchers propose a series of measures to combat this. These include limiting climate change and air pollution, combating invasive species, appropriate planting in communities and a warning system.

Online Ben Framed

  • Global Moderator
  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 14804
  • Mississippi Zone 7
Re: Not all pollen is the same
« Reply #1 on: May 14, 2024, 08:46:52 am »
A hundred years ago hay fever was largely unknown as such, not only in Switzerland, but in most every other country in the world. Back then the sufferers thought they had what was known as the common cold. Thanks to modern medicine which has identified hay fever for what it really is. A pollen related allergy in many cases.

The field of allergy was largely initiated in the United States by Dr. Robert Cooke and Dr. Arthur Coca, who started the first allergy clinic at Cornell University in New York. Cooke, who standardized allergy skin testing procedures and popularized allergy immunotherapy, trained Dr. Harry Alexander, who set up the first allergy clinic in the Midwest at the former Jewish Hospital and began training physicians in the sub-specialty of allergy. At the same time, Dr. Richard Eyermann followed by Dr. Stanley Hampton started an asthma clinic at Washington University School of Medicine.

This is where our friend the honeybee comes to the rescue! And why many Medical Allergist recommend pollen related hay fever suffers to ingest local honey and honey bee pollen.

Offline BeeMaster2

  • Administrator
  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 14220
  • Gender: Male
Re: Not all pollen is the same
« Reply #2 on: May 14, 2024, 08:50:28 am »
Yes, allergies are way up. When I was growing up I didn?t know anyone who had peanut allergies or any of the other allergies that people now have. When my generation was old enough to crawl we were playing in the dirt. There have been several studies done that show that dirt has things in it that help keep you healthy, especially when you?re young. Now a days most kids hardly ever play outside let a lone play in the dirt. I strongly suspect this has more to do with allergies than pollen that has been here for millions of years.
According to this article, in Switzerland the plants are producing a lot more pollen than in years past. Doesn?t that mean that plants are doing much better in the warmer climate that we are experiencing?
I don?t know about Switzerland but I do know that the air pollution here in the US is ten times better than it was when I was a child and into adulthood. When we drove into or near almost any city in this country you could see a dome of haze over them. It was really bad and it was not healthy. I have not seen domes over any cities in this country in a long time.
Jim Altmiller
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
Ben Franklin

Online Terri Yaki

  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 4077
  • Gender: Male
Re: Not all pollen is the same
« Reply #3 on: May 14, 2024, 08:52:41 am »
Quote
I do know that the air pollution here in the US is ten times better than it was when I was a child and I t adulthood. When we drove into or near almost any city in this country you could see a dome of haze over them. It was really bad and it was not healthy. I have not seen domes over any cities in this country in a long time.
Yes, we have moved all of that pollution to China and Taiwan.

Online Ben Framed

  • Global Moderator
  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 14804
  • Mississippi Zone 7
Re: Not all pollen is the same
« Reply #4 on: May 14, 2024, 08:58:12 am »
Quote
I do know that the air pollution here in the US is ten times better than it was when I was a child and I t adulthood. When we drove into or near almost any city in this country you could see a dome of haze over them. It was really bad and it was not healthy. I have not seen domes over any cities in this country in a long time.
Yes, we have moved all of that pollution to China and Taiwan.

Good point Terri; While many climate change gurus hail China, seemingly eager, giving them a hall pass.

Offline Michael Bush

  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 20496
  • Gender: Male
    • bushfarms.com
Re: Not all pollen is the same
« Reply #5 on: May 14, 2024, 09:38:20 am »
I never was allergic to pollen or anything else until I took the Flu shot in 2010.  I think he cause of all these allergies are the vaccines.
My website:  bushfarms.com/bees.htm en espanol: bushfarms.com/es_bees.htm  auf deutsche: bushfarms.com/de_bees.htm  em portugues:  bushfarms.com/pt_bees.htm
My book:  ThePracticalBeekeeper.com
-------------------
"Everything works if you let it."--James "Big Boy" Medlin

Online Terri Yaki

  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 4077
  • Gender: Male
Re: Not all pollen is the same
« Reply #6 on: May 14, 2024, 10:50:02 am »
I never was allergic to pollen or anything else until I took the Flu shot in 2010.  I think he cause of all these allergies are the vaccines.
Something is causing it. As was stated above, nobody I knew growing up had all that garbage. One of my friends did have asthma thought, and I was jealous of it. He didn't have to mow the grass because of it. Growing up in a family with six kids, we did all get the regular illnesses like measles, german measles, chicken pox and the mumps. To this day, 'mumps' cracks me up. Where did they get that name from? I might have gotten some shots about 20 years ago when I went to Thailand on vacation but I don't remember. Other than that, no vaxes for me, tetanus shot only. I tell the doc that I used to eat my boogers when I was four years old so I'm good to go. :cheesy:

Online Kathyp

  • Global Moderator
  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 21507
  • Gender: Female
Re: Not all pollen is the same
« Reply #7 on: May 14, 2024, 11:35:40 am »
We have a lot of things we didn't used to have.  Everything from allergies to obesity.

The reasons are probably multiple and complicated. 

People used to eat what they grew and what was local.  Now we eat too much and stuff from all over the world.  That means exposure is up and the chance for a reaction increases. 

Back in the day, if someone was severely allergic to something, they died.  Since many things, including a tendency toward allergies, can run in families, if you don't live long enough to breed, you don't pass on those tendencies.  In fact, I think this one thing accounts for a lot of what we see now.  Many mental illnesses run in families.  Many health problems like certain cancers run in families. 

I'm not advocating for letting people die of treatable things, but we can track back increases in a lot of things to our ability to treat those things.
People worry about population increases, but population absent medical intervention, is self-limiting. 
The people the people are the rightful masters of both congresses and courts not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert it.

Abraham  Lincoln
Speech in Kansas, December 1859

Offline Michael Bush

  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 20496
  • Gender: Male
    • bushfarms.com
Re: Not all pollen is the same
« Reply #8 on: May 14, 2024, 12:07:47 pm »
I think obesity is more a matter of the food processors and the USDA recommendations.
My website:  bushfarms.com/bees.htm en espanol: bushfarms.com/es_bees.htm  auf deutsche: bushfarms.com/de_bees.htm  em portugues:  bushfarms.com/pt_bees.htm
My book:  ThePracticalBeekeeper.com
-------------------
"Everything works if you let it."--James "Big Boy" Medlin

Online Terri Yaki

  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 4077
  • Gender: Male
Re: Not all pollen is the same
« Reply #9 on: May 14, 2024, 12:16:30 pm »
As a kid, I used to think my mother was just a cheapskate because we hardly had any junk food to eat whilst all of my friends had all kinds of good stuff. That might be the case but later in life, she told me that she did that so we wouldn't eat it all and get fat. I get a kick out of watching the bands from my yute and the '70s. They're all way skinny for their height with the exception of Meatloaf. Any picture you see of today's Americans is full of overfed people, including me. Thank God for today's technology because I don't think we could win a ground war today.

Online animal

  • Super Bee
  • *****
  • Posts: 2166
  • Gender: Male
Re: Not all pollen is the same
« Reply #10 on: May 14, 2024, 01:25:02 pm »
I'm going with the "dirt is good for you" idea. ... exposure to stuff builds up resistance, kinda thing.
Also, can't help but think being inside and breathing filtered AC air might have something to do with being more sensitive to pollen.

plus ... that means... when I was a kid and made my little sister take a bite of a mud pie .. I was just helping her build her immune system :cool:
Avatar pic by my oldest daughter (ink and watercolor)

Offline max2

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1356
  • Gender: Male
Re: Not all pollen is the same
« Reply #11 on: May 14, 2024, 06:45:29 pm »
Terry
" Other than that, no vaxes for me, tetanus shot only. I tell the doc that I used to eat my boogers when I was four years old so I'm good to go."
I guess you have not been in the military?
When i was called up we where blessed with every shot possible - no choice :smile:

Offline Lesgold

  • Super Bee
  • *****
  • Posts: 1537
  • Gender: Male
Re: Not all pollen is the same
« Reply #12 on: May 14, 2024, 06:48:43 pm »
I have an allergy to hard work. Don?t know when I got it but it looks like I have it for life.  I?m afraid there?s no cure for it either. I?m thinking that I will just have to live with it. :cheesy: :cheesy: :cheesy: :cheesy:

Offline max2

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1356
  • Gender: Male
Re: Not all pollen is the same
« Reply #13 on: May 14, 2024, 06:48:59 pm »
Ben Framed
"This is where our friend the honeybee comes to the rescue! And why many Medical Allergist recommend pollen related hay fever suffers to ingest local honey and honey bee pollen"

Is there enough science behind this statement?

I have heard it said many times but is there solid proof?

Offline max2

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1356
  • Gender: Male
Re: Not all pollen is the same
« Reply #14 on: May 14, 2024, 06:50:18 pm »
I have an allergy to hard work. Don?t know when I got it but it looks like I have it for life.  I?m afraid there?s no cure for it either. I?m thinking that I will just have to live with it. :cheesy: :cheesy: :cheesy: :cheesy:
Pollen?
Fishing?

Online Terri Yaki

  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 4077
  • Gender: Male
Re: Not all pollen is the same
« Reply #15 on: May 14, 2024, 06:55:30 pm »
Terry
" Other than that, no vaxes for me, tetanus shot only. I tell the doc that I used to eat my boogers when I was four years old so I'm good to go."
I guess you have not been in the military?
When i was called up we where blessed with every shot possible - no choice :smile:
Nope, I missed out but I heard all about it from other guys. Yep, shots for things that they had no idea what they were for. I heard two different schools of though on later vaxes...1) I've had enough shots for my lifetime, I'm not getting any more and 2) With all the shots I had already, what's one or two more?

Online animal

  • Super Bee
  • *****
  • Posts: 2166
  • Gender: Male
Re: Not all pollen is the same
« Reply #16 on: May 14, 2024, 07:05:38 pm »
Ben Framed
"This is where our friend the honeybee comes to the rescue! And why many Medical Allergist recommend pollen related hay fever suffers to ingest local honey and honey bee pollen"

Is there enough science behind this statement?

I have heard it said many times but is there solid proof?
Hey max ... maybe? It sounds like a home remedy version of immunotherapy to me. Some home remedies actually work.
It's hard to find any studies on non-drug treatments in general though ... no money in it for big pharma.

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/seasonal-allergies/could-allergy-drops-be-the-key-to-allergy-relief#:~:text=Allergy%20immunotherapy%20is%20an%20allergy,produces%20an%20abnormal%20immune%20response).
Avatar pic by my oldest daughter (ink and watercolor)

Offline BeeMaster2

  • Administrator
  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 14220
  • Gender: Male
Re: Not all pollen is the same
« Reply #17 on: May 14, 2024, 09:55:19 pm »
Years ago during my navy years I was at the navy courthouse for jury duty. I spotted an old shipmate sitting outside of an office. I called his name and he was very slow to respond and his speech was real slow like he was severely drugged up. I asked him if he went to the gulf war. He said yeah. They gave him a bunch of vaccines all at once. They messed up a lot of our military doing that.
A few minutes later his wife came out from a lawyer?s  office and said common John and took him by the arm and led him out.
Jim Altmiller
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
Ben Franklin

Online Kathyp

  • Global Moderator
  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 21507
  • Gender: Female
Re: Not all pollen is the same
« Reply #18 on: May 14, 2024, 10:07:27 pm »
Quote
He said yeah. They gave him a bunch of vaccines all at once. They messed up a lot of our military doing that.

When I was to deploy for Desert Storom I went in for my medical and my shot record was missing.  Must have ticked off the wrong person  :grin:

I got everything all at once. Made me kind of sick for 24 hours, but a shipmate of mine ended up in the hospital.  We are, after all, expendable components...
The people the people are the rightful masters of both congresses and courts not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert it.

Abraham  Lincoln
Speech in Kansas, December 1859

Online Ben Framed

  • Global Moderator
  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 14804
  • Mississippi Zone 7
Re: Not all pollen is the same
« Reply #19 on: May 14, 2024, 10:49:44 pm »
I have an allergy to hard work. Don?t know when I got it but it looks like I have it for life.  I?m afraid there?s no cure for it either. I?m thinking that I will just have to live with it. :cheesy: :cheesy: :cheesy: :cheesy:

 :grin: :grin: :grin:

Offline Occam

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 370
  • Gender: Male
Re: Not all pollen is the same
« Reply #20 on: May 14, 2024, 11:01:28 pm »
I'm going with the "dirt is good for you" idea. ... exposure to stuff builds up resistance, kinda thing.
Also, can't help but think being inside and breathing filtered AC air might have something to do with being more sensitive to pollen.

plus ... that means... when I was a kid and made my little sister take a bite of a mud pie .. I was just helping her build her immune system :cool:

This is absolutely a big factor. Allergies started spiking the more prevalent central heat and air had become and the more sealed from the outside of houses are. We weren't made to be separate from nature in our daily lives we're a part of nature. When we live in ways we weren't made to live we develop problems we weren't meant to have.  That said I agree with Kathy, it's death by a million cuts. There are so many factors bombarding us that "progress" and industrialization have brought us that weren't faced by most 100 years ago, we're quickly careening towards illness and disease.
Entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity

Offline max2

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1356
  • Gender: Male
Re: Not all pollen is the same
« Reply #21 on: May 15, 2024, 08:26:46 am »

Online Kathyp

  • Global Moderator
  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 21507
  • Gender: Female
Re: Not all pollen is the same
« Reply #22 on: May 15, 2024, 11:01:47 am »
Max, one of the interesting things in your article is this:  The declines in life expectancy since 2019 are largely driven by the pandemic. COVID-19 deaths contributed to nearly three-fourths or 74% of the decline from 2019 to 2020 and 50% of the decline from 2020 to 2021. An estimated 16% of the decline in life expectancy from 2020 to 2021 can be attributed to increases in deaths from accidents/unintentional injuries. Drug overdose deaths account for nearly half of all unintentional injury deaths. The most recent data reported by NCHS showed more than 109,000 overdose deaths in the one-year period ending in March of 2022.

Again, I think there are multiple reasons but have you read the reports on excess deaths during and after COVID?  That's some interesting stuff and still being analyzed. 

The stats on fentanyl deaths are staggering too.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/895945/fentanyl-overdose-deaths-us/

Unlike past drug use spikes, this one is almost 100% coming from the outside.  People used to cook meth here, but fentanyl is coming in by the truck load through Mexico, ingredients courtesy of China.  It's a big problem and one that hurts a lot of innocent people because the stuff is so toxic you can be poisoned just by touching something that has fentanyl on it.

Other things, like infant and maternal deaths, and some lifestyle diseases we can't really use in the stats because people who come in from other countries often have not had good healthcare or healthcare at all, so they should be excluded from these stats.




The people the people are the rightful masters of both congresses and courts not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert it.

Abraham  Lincoln
Speech in Kansas, December 1859

Offline Occam

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 370
  • Gender: Male
Re: Not all pollen is the same
« Reply #23 on: May 15, 2024, 02:34:24 pm »
Occam - is this related?
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2022/20220831.htm

I couldn't say, I was referencing allergies and illness not death itself. My "death by a million cuts" comment was a figure of speech. That said illness and disease, especially chronic, can and do lead to death. It does behoove us to be circumspect about what we're doing in our personal lives, reducing our use of plastics, growing our own food sources, living and working with nature as much as possible instead of trying to control or subdue it. We're pretty short lived and weak beings if we're honest with ourselves, nature will always outlast us and wear us out with its relentless force. We would do well to do all we can to come alongside nature, learn from nature, mimic nature, and we would find ourselves healthier, more satisfied, and more fulfilled in life. Building our houses and offices to be sealed off, growing our food in labs, separating ourselves in as many ways as we can, and then expecting that our bodies wouldn't react to an outside force like pollen is completely asinine and insane of us to think. Climate change isnt the issue, it's us. Even if climate change (and climate always changes, always has always will with or without us) is increasing the pollen around us, if we spent the majority of our time outdoors, or in an environment with free airflow from outside to inside like 100 years ago this wouldn't be a conversation because our bodies would be adapting to the slight (relatively speaking) change in pollen versus what we now encounter when we leave our sealed off, filtered, and sanitized environments
Entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity


Online Ben Framed

  • Global Moderator
  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 14804
  • Mississippi Zone 7
Re: Not all pollen is the same
« Reply #25 on: June 02, 2024, 07:56:07 am »
Max,
Can you give a brief description of what is in your article? I get this when I click on the link.

SWI swissinfo.ch

We need your permission
In order to offer you an optimal user experience, we use Cookies and similar technologies. We will not pass on your data to third parties who are not our direct service providers without your consent. We also do not use your data for commercial purposes.
Show more...
Privacy Policy
Imprint
More
« Last Edit: June 02, 2024, 08:11:13 am by Ben Framed »

Offline Occam

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 370
  • Gender: Male
Re: Not all pollen is the same
« Reply #26 on: June 02, 2024, 10:49:58 pm »
Copy and pasted from the link

Researchers at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) were able to demonstrate for the first time that pollen has an effect on cardiovascular disease. The study, published on Friday in the journal Environmental Health, involved 400 participants in the Basel region in 2021 and 2022.

?Pollen allergy is a growing public health problem,? the researchers declared. The pollen season is likely to become longer and more intense as a result of climate change. It is estimated that around 20% of adults globally are allergic to pollen.

+ Intense pollen year leads to severe stress for allergy sufferers

Their study found that during periods with very high pollen concentrations, systolic and diastolic blood pressure increased on average by 2.0 mmHg and 1.5 mmHg respectively, compared to no-pollen days. Blood pressure effects were already evident at small pollen concentrations and continuously increased with increasing pollen in the air. The effect was markedly stronger for women and people with a high body-mass index.

+ New technology brings relief to people with pollen allergies

According to the specialists, these results are important for public health. Pollen allergies and hypertension are two of the most common chronic diseases in Europe,? they write.

It is therefore important that the health effects of allergenic trees are taken into account to a greater extent in future, for example in urban planning. Urban trees are important for providing shade, particularly in view of climate change, but there are alternatives to highly allergenic birch trees, the researchers write.

Adapted from French by DeepL/sb
Entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity