The famous climate change also impacts plants, whose pollen period is extending and affecting more and more people. In order to properly detect and characterize pollen, sensors are installed and will warn allergy sufferers directly.
A “detail” the pollen? “Certainly not”, assures Gérard Trémège, “climate change and rising temperatures are increasing the length of the pollen season. And allergies are affecting more and more people, 7% of the population in 1970, 30% today and 50% in 2050. It is a silent epidemic, people with allergies sometimes do not even know that their discomfort is due to pollen. , take it only during the periods of diffusion of the pollens to which they are sensitive. All this, the president of the CA-TLP does not pull out of the hat, it is the fruit of in-depth work with Jacques Gayraud, the renowned allergist, and Robert Castel, the president of the order of doctors.
Prevention to better heal
Detection systems exist, but they are under-calibrated, there are four measuring devices in the region, and the data from which reaches allergy sufferers several days late. “We have decided to act, and we are going to install 5 very modern aircraft, manufactured in France by the company Lify Air.” These devices are able to identify 20 plant species, and therefore as many pollens, to detect them and the data is transmitted in real time to allergy sufferers, via a free application, livepollen, on the internet or on a smartphone. “In addition”, specify Sylvie Soroste and Simon Peyret, in charge of the environment at CA-TLP, and more specifically of the Plan Climat Air Enerie Territoroal, “if people provide information on the pollens to which they are allergic, the application send an alert.” If the CA-TLP is only the second territory of Occitania to be equipped with such devices, the medical world applauds with both hands. “It’s a fantastic tool, which complements the pollinarium installed for several years”, assured the two experts, “the tool we’ve been dreaming of for a long time, because it will help us to better target treatments, make it more efficient and less permanent. These devices determine both the type of pollen and above all their density. It is extremely efficient.”
And the two doctors recall that pollen allergies trigger asthma attacks, “which can go as far as respiratory distress”. In short, a real question of public health, it is agreed to appreciate that diseases linked to pollen allergies cost 16 billion euros per year in France. So the cost of these 5 devices, €36,000 partly subsidized, suddenly seems justified. Finally, they underline that “the implantation on the whole territory will allow the obtaining of very fine data.” As fine as pollen…
