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The Health Essentials: June 2, 2005

Posted on: Thursday, 2 June 2005, 18:00 CDT

HEALTH

Nothing to sneeze at

Global warming linked to allergy attacks

Researchers studying global warming's impact on plant growth expect more severe sneezy and sniffly springs and summers ahead. New studies suggest that global warming, which has been linked to a sharp jump in greenhouse gases, is driving up pollen counts, especially in cities.

A Maryland agricultural researcher has found that increased levels of carbon dioxide, the most significant greenhouse gas, not only cause more weeds to grow but actually encourage each individual weed to release more pollen.

"We're already seeing this impact directly on weeds and trees," said Paul Epstein, associate director of the Center for Global Health and the Environment at Harvard University. "We are now beginning to suspect it's playing a role in the doubling and tripling of asthma rates in the U.S. since the 1980s."

Almost all asthma sufferers have allergies, and early childhood allergies often lead to asthma. "Asthma itself is really an allergic response -- in the lungs," said Dr. Jocelyn Celestin, chief of allergy and immunology at Albany Medical Center Hospital.

* Ragweed is a culprit in seasonal allergies.

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HOME

Help your garden grow

Gardening tips:

* To prevent lavender plants from becoming woody, prune them after they flower -- in the summer and in the fall. Cut the plant back into a dome shape.

* When lettuce bolts, or shoots up trying to set seed, it's time to cut down the lettuce and go on to tending to warm-weather plants.

* Examine new growth on vegetables, perennials, roses and shrubs for aphids and other sucking insects that can weaken plants and transmit disease. Aphids can be removed with a spray of water, or with low-impact organic insecticides such as insecticidal soap.

Compiled from wire reports by Lifebeat editor Alexis Magner Miller.

Source: Providence Journal

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