Fossil Fuels Causing Increased Global Warming and Health Issues

There are studies that point to another problem with fossil fuels and global warming, people are experiencing more and more allergies and allergic reactions. There has been in the last decade a 50 percent increase in older patients who are having allergic symptoms. These are people from 60 to 80 years old. Older people are for the first time in their lives being diagnosed with asthma. This is from doctors in the northeast part of the country, which has been cited for increased levels of carbon dioxide in the air. There are not many forest lands and fossil fuels are being burned heavily in this area. Older people tended in the past to suffer less from allergies and allergic reaction, not anymore. They are suffering enmasse' the same as the rest of the population due to global warming.
The rampant use of fossil fuels causing global warming, is changing the climate and some experts believe this is in turn increasing pollen counts and making the pollen more potent. Warmer temperatures are extending the growing season, and that increases the growth of both tree and grass pollen and makes their potency higher than it has ever been. The USDA Agricultural Research Service's ecologists believe the carbon dioxide itself helps plant growth. This increases the incidence of allergy problems.
Lewis Ziska is a plant ecologist for the USDA Argricultural Research Service, and he is the first researcher to show how global warming could affect allergies, and actually cause people who never had allergies to suddenly start to suffer from them.
Mr. Ziska in 2001 planted ragweed in urban, rural and suburban sites in and around Baltimore Maryland. He used the same seed and soil and the same amount of water. In the urban areas the temperatures were higher and the carbon dioxide levels were 20 percent higher than they were in the rural plots. The plants were larger and produced five times more pollen than the rural plots. Mr. Ziska published his study in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
Dr. Paul R. Epstein of the Center for Health and Global Environment at Harvard Medical School published a study in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, and in it he stated that carbon dioxide stimulates all plant life, however weedy plants, like ragweed, are stimulated more so. Ragweed pollen increased by 2/3 when it was exposed to twice the amount of carbon dioxide than there is in the atmosphere currently. According to scientists the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will double by the end of this century if we use fossil fuels at the current rate.
Some species of trees are producing 3 times as much pollen as they were prior to the advent of fossil fuels used in our industrial revolution until now. Poison ivy is now sometimes three times the size of plants found 50 to 60 years ago. Because of increased Co2, poison ivy oil that causes the itch is getting stronger researchers including Dr. Epstein say.
The largest problem concerning increased carbon dioxide is the burning of fuels like diesel, which causes a greater impact on asthma patients. Dr. Epstein explains that airborne pollen binds with diesel particles and go deep into lungs, there it irritates and can change into asthma. Nitrates in diesel aggravate the cells that cause allergic reactions. The older the patient the more problems they they may have with lung function. Beside smoking, and pollution, the natural aging process causes problems.
Allergists are seeing more problems. Dr. Jefferey G. Demain has done research that focused on insects that caused allergies, like bees. He found that symptoms are lasting longer and are much stronger than in the past. Higher temperatures due to global warming cause the insects to live longer. He has seen a large increase in cases of stinging allergies that require treatment.
If you are over 60 or an infant there is a greater risk for anaphylaxis, or anaphylactic shock. This is a reaction to an allergen that causes difficulty breathing and swelling in the throat. Older patients with insect venom allergies as well as the very young, are at a greater risk of a serious problem or death if stung. The increased risk of anaphylaxis, and possible respiratory disorders that elderly people may have, make it a serious problem.
Global Warming is causing existing allergies to accelerate and is now causing people who heretofore did not have allergies to have them. This is the legacy that we have created for our future generations, illness and allergic reactions caused by the very air we breath simply because of climate changes. Climate changes directly caused by global warming.
Fossil fuels are the culprits with regard to global warming and we are not only killing other species, we are destroying the human race. We can save ourselves by converting to clean renewable energy sources. We have the technology to convert to solar and wind power almost painlessly. This is only one more reason that we should pursue this course. We are running out of options.