“”I am under antihistaminic but if I do not take them, I have my eyes scratching, I am very tired, I cough” And “I don’t sleep at night“, Testifies Simon Barthelemy, in his forties who lives near Paris.
“”The first time was with customers who had birch, I had a big allergy to the eyes, and since then it’s recurrent every year“, Says the architect.
Of the order of 20% of children from 9 years old and 30% of adults are now affected by allergies, according to the Ministry of Health. Figures “increasing in recent years in industrialized countries“.
The prevalence of respiratory allergies has multiplied by three in 30 years, according to allergists. In Europe, half of adults could suffer by 2050, according to the World Health Organization.
“We are in crisis because allergies explode,” warns Séverine Fernandez, allergist at La Ciotat (Bouches-du-Rhône) and president of the French union of allergists.
“”Before, an allergic remained with what is commonly called a hay fever for years, while now this person can become asthmatic one or two years after“, Note the specialist.
“Earlier floraisons”
For her, the link with climate change is “obvious” while “pollens increase and are more aggressive than before“, also in connection with pollution.
They are also present longer in the year. “”The fact that winter is softer and that summer lasts longer makes the pollinate season longer is longer“, Note Salomé Pasquet, of the Association of Sentinel Pollinariums.
These pollinariums are gardens, where the main allergenic species in the surroundings in certain cities are planted. They make it possible to inform of the very first pollens released in the air so that sensitive people can start their treatment as soon as possible, and therefore represent a privileged observation post.
“”The hazelnut is in mid-December in recent years, which was not the case before and that is really because winter is very soft, suddenly the flowers are earlier“Reports the botanist.
To this seasonal evolution is added the greater concentrations in the CO2 atmosphere, nutrient of plants, which promotes the production of pollens.
“”There is an effect of climate change, it is obvious“, Acoses Nicolas Visez, aerobiologist at the University of Lille.
But “One cannot generalize because each plant has its own reaction to the quantities of water, at atmospheric CO2, temperatures“, He says. Thus the birches will delete with hot and dry summers when the room, a highly allergenic invasive plant, proliferates.
In a study published in 2017, researchers were already concluding that allergy to Ambroisie would become a health problem “current” in Europe and extend “to regions where it is currently rare“, largely under the effect of climate change.
Diversify species
The fight against this invasive plant is one of the priorities, with also a better choice of plantations in the future, to favor species with lower allergening potential, such as maple or fruit trees.
In Japan, the government announced in 2023 a plan to fight against allergies caused by the many cedars of the archipelago. Its plan provides in particular the slaughter of trees to replace them with species producing less pollen.
In France, a number of municipalities, like Nantes, are starting to be made aware and “more and more this variable of the allergenic potential comes into account in the new plantations“Says Salomé Pasquet.
“”There is no question of stopping planting allergenic species“But above all to” diversify “, to avoid”places where there are birch alignments like it could have been done a few years ago“She explains.