Scientists: Longer allergy season may be linked to climate change

[jpak]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/lifetravel/stories/DN-nh_ragweed_1202gd.ART.State.Edition1.29d373a.html

Still sneezing, even though it's December? You might be able to blame it on global warming.

Allergists are looking at the possibility that global warming produces bigger, nastier ragweed plants that pump more pollen into the atmosphere. Bottom line: If true, you'll be sneezing more often, for more days out of the year. And that could be the least of our worries.

"Climate change is potentially the largest global threat to human health ever encountered," says a study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, which devoted its September issue to climate change and allergic disease. The issue identified ways that global warming could negatively affect people with asthma and allergies, or just with a desire to breathe with a healthy pair of lungs.

Has global warming extended Dallas' allergy season? That's too hard to pin down, says Dr. Michael Ruff, a pediatric allergist at Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas.

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[Auggie]

1. I believe it.

I've been having sinus issues all year