Allergy sufferers are the canaries in the coal mine, calling attention to the critical state of air pollution in the United States. With crucial protections being rolled back, a national report points to the widening reach of climate change and the negative effects it has on our health and future.
Kenneth Mendez
CEO and President, Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA)
Mitchell Grayson, M.D.
Professor and Researcher, Nationwide Children’s Hospital and The Ohio State University College of Medicine; Chair, AAFA Medical Scientific Council
The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America’s (AAFA) Allergy Capitals report, the annual ranking of the most challenging U.S. cities for people with allergies, contains a warning that goes well beyond pollen counts.
Look at the top five cities: Boise. San Diego. Tulsa. Provo. Rochester.
If that list surprises you, it should. For years, the South and Midwest have dominated the top of AAFA’s Allergy Capitals list. Not anymore. Look beyond the top five and the pattern deepens: half of the top 10 cities are in the West. The dominance of western cities at the top of this year’s rankings is not a coincidence. It is a signal, and one we have been watching build for years.
A clouded future
Allergy sufferers are canaries in the coal mine for climate change. As pollen seasons become longer, more intense, and more geographically widespread, the allergic load overwhelms more immune systems, worsens symptoms in people who already have allergies, and triggers them in people who never did.
Boise, San Diego, and Provo are not Allergy Capitals because of anything unique to their residents. They are Allergy Capitals because their environments have changed. The research tells us why. Because of warmer temperatures, pollen seasons in the United States now start earlier, last longer, and carry higher pollen concentrations than 30 years ago. Elevated levels of carbon dioxide are supercharging pollen production. Increasingly powerful storms are saturating the ground and priming plants to release heavier pollen loads. Drought conditions allow pollen to stay airborne.
The impact of allergies matters far beyond seasonal misery. More than 100 million Americans live with some form of allergies. The condition costs the U.S. economy billions annually in healthcare spending and lost productivity. Allergies disrupt sleep, undermine concentration, keep children home from school, and adults from work. For the nearly 28 million people in the U.S. who also have asthma, worsening pollen seasons can trigger potentially life-threatening attacks from allergic asthma. As the seasons worsen, the circle of people affected grows wider.
Protections that took decades to build are being dismantled at a pace that should concern anyone who cares about allergies and public health. Clean air standards, emissions regulations, and investment in scientific monitoring are under direct assault. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is being hollowed out, with its scientific advisory boards gutted, its air quality standards rolled back, and its mission redirected away from protecting public health. And people with allergies will breathe the consequences.
Heed the call
It is time to act. Longer, more intense allergy seasons are already here. How much worse they get depends on the choices we make now. Weakening energy, emissions, and environmental regulations will only accelerate the trend. The cities at the top of this year’s Allergy Capitals report are delivering the same message climate scientists have been echoing for years, but in a language that millions of Americans feel in their own bodies each season.
Pay attention to the canaries. The mine is becoming more toxic.
