The latest climate change report prepared by the United Nations warns that rising levels of carbon dioxide will increase pollen levels in the atmosphere, making more people vulnerable to asthma.
Report contributor Dr Paul Beggs, an environmental health scientist from Macquarie University
in Sydney, says that laboratory studies have shown that increased CO2 levels lead to a rise in the number and size of weeds—plantain (Plantago), ragweed and birch trees, plants that produce allergy-triggering pollen.
Report contributor Dr Paul Beggs, an environmental health scientist from Macquarie University in Sydney, says the increase in pollen is linked to increasing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.He further says that this increased level of pollen is linked to asthma.
"You'll also have more severe asthma symptoms as well," ABC Online quoted him as saying.
Beggs reckons that rising temperatures may increase the levels of ozone-laden photochemical smog in urban areas, which is a known trigger of asthma in the presence of ultraviolet light and heat.
The researcher suggested that better weed control, asthma awareness campaigns, and improved public transport are some of the measures that may help prevent the society from this problem.
The findings are contained in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) report on the effects of a warming climate.