Pollen is hitting the Northeast and South hard - and experts say allergy season is lasting longer
Warmer weather has brought high pollen levels to New York City, which is also being inundated with wildfire smoke - and it's not expected to let up any time soon.
"Experts are expecting that allergy season is going to last 180 days in the Northeast, that's 20 days longer than we're usually used to," Dr. Nidhi Kumar told CBS News. "This is one of the direct effects of climate change."
On Friday, and for the week ahead, the pollen forecast for New York City is listed as 'high' on AccuWeather. Boston expected a similar scene, except for Wednesday and Thursday, when the forecast drops to 'moderate' for two days.
But, it's not just the East Coast. Atlanta has broken its pollen count record and Houston just reported its highest pollen counts since 2013, when records began. Many of the worst-hit cities were expected to be in the South, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.
High pollen counts can lead to runny noses and itchy eyes for approximately one in four adults, with impacts expected to extend into the summer months.
Now, a report from the non-profit Climate Central says that millions of Americans in most major cities are suffering from earlier, longer, and more disruptive allergy seasons amid the effects of human-caused climate change.
The analysis, which used data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said that a warmer and earlier spring has resulted in a longer growing season, giving plants more time to grow and release their allergy-inducing powder.
The freeze-free growing season between 1970 and 2024 was found to have extended by 20 days in 87 percent of the 198 cities they analyzed since 1970.
While all regions have seen their freeze-free growing seasons lengthen by at least 13 days on average since 1970, cities across America's Northwest and Southwest have experienced the largest average change, increasing by 24 and 20 days, respectively.
'The freeze-free growing season increased the most in: Reno, Nev. (96 more days); Las Cruces, N.M. (66 more days); Medford, Ore. (63 more days); and Tupelo, Miss. and Myrtle Beach, S.C. (both 52 more days),' the report said.
Cities in the South, Southeast, Ohio Valley and Northeast have experienced the longest average freeze-free seasons, which are now at least 10 percent longer in 70 of the cities that were analyzed.
The analysis comes following a previous study that found human-caused warming was a primary driver of North American pollen seasons lengthening from 1990 to 2018.
Last year, the Department of Health and Human Services also noted that the changing climate has caused more frost-free days, warmer seasonal air temperatures, and more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that 'may lead to both higher pollen concentrations and earlier and longer pollen seasons.'
Data from the National Phenology Network indicates that the start of spring has, on average, occurred earlier in the contiguous U.S, since 1984, and that total pollen amounts increased up to 21 percent between 1990 and 2018. The greatest increases were recorded in Texas and the Midwest.
'Some of these changes in pollen due to climate change could have major impacts on human health such as increasing individuals' exposure to pollen and their risk of having allergy and/or asthma symptoms,' it said.
Climate Central also tied these changes to carbon dioxide pollution: a prevalent greenhouse gas contributing to the warming of Earth's atmosphere.
'With continued high rates of CO2 pollution, the U.S. could face up to a 200% increase in pollen production by the end of this century, according to a 2022 study,' it said.
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Scottish Sun
an hour ago
- Scottish Sun
Stockpiling £700 of fat jabs has got me in debt but I can't bear to weigh 22st again… why price hike makes me sick
Admin worker Paige Ospray, who previously regained her weight after having a gastric bypass op, has been on Mounjaro since June 'OBESITY DISCRIMINATION' Stockpiling £700 of fat jabs has got me in debt but I can't bear to weigh 22st again… why price hike makes me sick Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) MOUNJARO'S upcoming price hike has sent users into a spiral, but one woman who used to weigh 22st while bingeing on pizza and curry can sleep easy knowing she has a £2,000 supply stashed away. Paige Ospray maxed out her credit card and used buy-now-pay-later provider Klarna to get her fill, but with many of the 1.5million Brit users now hoarding fat jab drugs, there could be serious repercussions for people who need it to manage their type 2 diabetes. 4 Admin worker Paige Ospray, 30, has been on weight loss jabs since June 4 The makers of Mounjaro announced a shock price hike last week Credit: Alamy It comes after a huge price rise, which almost doubles the cost of the jabs, was announced last week. This follows Donald Trump's call for US pharmaceutical companies to address price inconsistencies compared with European markets as he slammed 'freeloaders' relying on Americans to pay more for medicines. As a frantic scramble for the drug gets under way, Paige, 30, reveals why she is hoarding as much as possible before the price rise hits in September, in a move that could create a shortage for others. Admin worker Paige lives with partner, sports coach Ads Jenson, 38, in Birmingham, West Midlands. She says: Signing up to a second online chemist last Friday, I could barely catch my breath as I frantically typed in 'Mounjaro'. Stress pulsated through my body as I clicked 'buy again'. When I saw the price was the same as last month - £160 - I burst into joyful tears. I was buying 7.5mg and had been panicking that it was going to cost two or even three times as much after learning overnight the price had suddenly gone up. Online weight loss forums exploded with panicked users fretting they wouldn't be able to afford it. Some people said they were heartbroken. I understood how they felt. I've been on the weight loss drug since June, having battled the bulge for most of my life. At my heaviest aged 18 I weighed 22st and wore size 24 clothes. Undercover at a black market 'skinny jab party' Hamburgers, chips and pizza, Chinese and creamy Indian curries and sugary soda were my go-to meals. I was a yo-yo dieter trying everything from the milkshake or soup diets, food replacement meals, keto and Atkins. I'd lose a few pounds and reward myself with takeaway and cake. I underwent a failed gastric bypass in June 2018 but developed a hernia and 'weight recidivism', which is where you regain weight after surgery. I plateaued at 16 stone. I needed a different plan so weight loss jabs were a Godsend for me. Stockpiling health risks Professor Claire Anderson, Royal Pharmaceutical Society President, says: 'Weight loss medicines should only ever be used exactly as prescribed, with medical supervision. 'We strongly advise against stockpiling as it can create unnecessary pressure on supply and may prevent others getting the treatment they need. 'It's unsafe to attempt to alter or divide doses by using pens of a different strength than prescribed. Taking these medicines in a way that has not been recommended by a healthcare professional can put your health at risk. 'Anyone worried about the cost or availability of these medicines should speak to their pharmacist or prescriber for advice on safe alternatives. 'We strongly discourage people from trying to source medicines from unregulated suppliers, as they may provide fake or harmful products which are unsafe and carry serious health risks.' Initially I was prescribed Ozempic privately but I switched to Mounjaro as it was rumoured to be more effective. The initial dose in January cost £130 and even then I'd struggle to put aside enough cash to buy the jab. But I went down to 9st 4lbs and a size 8 in five months. The 'food noise' I'd suffered from all my life vanished. I was able to go to the gym and buy nice clothes. I was no longer the 'fat friend'. I intended to stay on it for life… I need to. But like more than a million other UK users, my world came crashing down on Friday when price hikes were announced overnight. Mounjaro mayhem and a race to borrow cash and stockpile ensured. I had already stretched myself to afford what I am on at the moment, but some months slipped £550 into debt because I wasn't working overtime. But even so I knew I had to buy more before the cost spiralled. My partner Ads supported me, knowing how much it meant to me. For me stockpiling a supply before the price almost doubles is the difference between staying slim or piling on the pounds. 4 Paige weighed 22st at her heaviest before she plateaued at 16st, pictured Credit: Supplied 4 She managed to drop 7st on the weight loss drug 'These are not cosmetic treatments' Andy Morling, MHRA Deputy Director of Criminal Enforcement, says: 'We see people offering weight loss medicines for sale as a quick fix, without a healthcare professional's prescription, from beauty salons, websites and on social media. "These are not cosmetic treatments; they are powerful medicines that can only be legally and safely dispensed against a prescription issued by a healthcare professional.' Although I look thin, if I stop taking it for even a week, the food thoughts come back and the weight creeps on. I don't overdose on it, I take it sensibly but I am not naturally light-boned. So last weekend I spent £700 on my credit card, Klarna and borrowed from Ads, to finish building a Mounjaro supply before the hikes hit in September. Most people have two pharmacies prescribing privately. Some months my supplier didn't have the medication, so I used an alternative provider. I opened accounts with a number of online prescribers, filled in a quick form and even had the option to inform my GP or not. Some didn't even request proper ID. It's not illegal, because of Britain's strict patient confidentiality laws under the Data Protection Act and UK GDPR. The online pharmacy can only see my health history if I give consent and then I get to choose what parts they can access. By then I'll have seven pens worth around £2,000 which I will use sparingly and should last me seven months. After that I don't know what I will do. I have two choices. Stop the jab and get fat. Or stay slim and face financial ruin I have two choices. Stop the jab and get fat. Or stay slim and face financial ruin. It's lose-lose. The wealthy stay skinny. The rest of us face bailiffs, bulges or the black market. I don't want to go down that route but I understand why people have been freaking out, saying they are 'heartbroken' on online forums and eking out the last of their pens. More than ever people are talking about buying illegally. Of course that isn't safe - you don't really know what you're getting. I have my main online pharmacy and a backup one. But I know other users who have signed up to even more. I've already been juggling bills and falling behind on gas and electricity just to be on Mounjaro. I can't afford to stockpile. But it's essential now - it's obesity discrimination and it makes me sick.
Spectator
5 hours ago
- Spectator
Why your weight loss jab is ballooning in price
'A friend of mine who's slightly overweight, to put it mildly, went to a drug store in London,' Donald Trump said aboard Air Force One. Earlier he had told reporters: 'He was able to get one of the fat shots. 'I just paid $88 and in New York I paid $1,300. What the hell is going on? It's the same box, made in the same plant, by the same company.'' You can see why the dealmaker-in-chief was irked. And when Trump is irked, someone usually pays the price. In May, the President signed an executive order for 'most-favoured-nation prescription drug pricing for American patients'. It was a warning to drug companies, as well as other countries, that Americans were tired of paying nearly three times more for the same medicines as patients abroad. The US is home to less than 5 per cent of the world's population and yet American consumers account for almost three-quarters of global pharmaceutical profits, because manufacturers heavily discount their drugs overseas and make up the difference by inflating prices in the States. As the President puts it, 'freeloading' foreign customers 'get a free ride'. He's not wrong. But while Trump may get his wish in stopping overseas health systems from getting cheaper deals, it's not obvious that profit–making companies will cut their prices in America. The more likely response is that they'll raise them everywhere else. Eli Lilly, the American pharmaceutical giant behind the weight-loss jab Mounjaro, has announced that from September the recommended retail price of its strongest monthly dose in Britain will leap from £122 to £330 – inflation of more than 170 per cent. The company knows the NHS won't actually pay that much: it has already negotiated substantial discounts for the doses it prescribes. But by hiking the list price on the highest dose (which relatively few patients use), while cutting the private deals on lower doses, Lilly can appease Washington and protect its market at the same time. For now, anyway. But demand is picking up. In Britain, around 1.5 million people are already on weight-loss drugs, with 90 per cent paying out of pocket. Most take Mounjaro, while a smaller number are on Wegovy, the sister drug to Ozempic. Novo Nordisk, the Danish manufacturer of Wegovy, has agreed to keep its UK price low for the time being. But costs will eventually be driven up for Wegovy users too if Mounjaro users, faced with a much bigger bill, convert to Wegovy en masse, squeezing supply. Fat loss clinics are already seeing a 500 to 600 per cent increase in Brits switching to Wegovy, which – come September – will cost half the price of Mounjaro. Trump's war on drug pricing will affect other areas of British medicine too. Weight-loss jabs have become the symbol of American pharma – and its many excesses – but they are by no means the only miracle drug we get for cheap. Take Casgevy, a US-made gene therapy that can treat the blood conditions beta thalassemia and sickle cell disease. One dose costs more than £1.6 million at list price. Thanks to its clout as the country's single dominant buyer, the NHS has secured a confidential – though significant – discount. Casgevy's eye-watering price is easy to justify: therapies at the frontier of medicine cost billions to develop. British politicians love to remind us that the UK is a world leader in life sciences, and in many ways that's true, but it's the US that is funding nearly half of all global life-sciences research and development. Trump, in typical fashion, wants the credit – or at least cheaper price tags. But drug makers won't cut their profits; they'll shrink everyone else's discounts. The NHS's bargaining power may shield patients for a time, but price rises are coming. UK officials know it, too. Even before the latest hikes on the fat jabs, government papers released alongside the US-UK trade talks in May noted that the NHS would look at the concerns of the President. No prime minister or health secretary could openly sign up to higher drug costs borne by the NHS, but they knew Trump had not finished going after what he considers to be unfair trade practice. The uncomfortable truth for the British is that as much as we mock US healthcare as extortionate and venerate our NHS as sacred, we live off America's excess. The American healthcare system is Britain's greatest scapegoat: it's absurdly expensive, highly inefficient and still doesn't manage to provide universal coverage. Indeed, it's the only healthcare system in the developed world that can distract from just how poor our own is: a 'National Health Service' that falls short of practically every standard and target set for it. The NHS survives only because we ignore its outcomes. Measure after measure shows that plenty of people are being failed by an expensive, yet decaying system. Britain spends around £36 billion a year on pharmaceuticals, £19 billion of that coming from the NHS. Medicines are already the health service's second-biggest expense after staff. But that number would be a lot higher without America. Britain may be world-class in medical research, but we spend just 0.3 per cent of GDP on drug research and development, compared with America's 0.8 per cent. American money makes Britain's drug research possible. And for years, until drugs lose their patent, Americans pay exorbitant costs which subsidise the NHS's bargain prices. This model which so annoys Trump perhaps helps explain why the NHS continues to enjoy such widespread public support, despite its many failures. We'll tolerate months-long waiting lists, worse survival chances and outdated facilities if we have cheap or 'free' access to life-changing medicines. But will we put up with the broken system if we have to start paying a fair whack for drugs, either directly at the pharmacy counter or indirectly through the increased taxation that would be needed to fund them? The government won't give up our bargain pricing without a fight. Quietly, and at significant political cost, health officials will roll out a new strategy. We're never going to pay American prices for drugs – the 'free at the point of use' funding model simply could not afford it. Instead, we'll try to make our research environment so attractive to manufacturers that they'll reward us by maintaining drug discounts. That's the real motivation behind Wes Streeting's planned reforms for the NHS, which are championed by his supporters as a way to improve the patient experience and attacked by his critics as a covert means of privatising the health service. Take the single patient record, which NHS England says will give 'every part of the NHS a full picture of the patient'. Perhaps – but it will also make it far easier to identify people for clinical trials and medical research. Look at the partnership between the Wellcome Trust and the government to create a £600 million health data research service. The stated aim is to 'simplify access to health data and speed up research'. But it also makes Britain an attractive place for pharmaceutical companies. The offer is simple: we'll make it as easy and welcoming as possible for you to do your research here, you've just got to keep paying for it. This is the part British politicians never want to say out loud, especially when it comes to healthcare: someone, somewhere, is always paying for it. Drugs aren't 'cheap'. The NHS isn't 'free'. There are always trade-offs: either higher prices, longer wait times, or uncomfortable deals and data swaps with Big Medicine. No matter how you spin it, Britain's 'free ride' is coming to an end.
Spectator
13 hours ago
- Spectator
Britain owes America for its ‘free' healthcare
'A friend of mine who's slightly overweight, to put it mildly, went to a drug store in London,' Donald Trump said aboard Air Force One. Earlier he had told reporters: 'He was able to get one of the fat shots. 'I just paid $88 and in New York I paid $1,300. What the hell is going on? It's the same box, made in the same plant, by the same company.'' You can see why the dealmaker-in-chief was irked. And when Trump is irked, someone usually pays the price. In May, the President signed an executive order for 'most-favoured-nation prescription drug pricing for American patients'. It was a warning to drug companies, as well as other countries, that Americans were tired of paying nearly three times more for the same medicines as patients abroad. The US is home to less than 5 per cent of the world's population and yet American consumers account for almost three-quarters of global pharmaceutical profits, because manufacturers heavily discount their drugs overseas and make up the difference by inflating prices in the States. As the President puts it, 'freeloading' foreign customers 'get a free ride'. He's not wrong. But while Trump may get his wish in stopping overseas health systems from getting cheaper deals, it's not obvious that profit–making companies will cut their prices in America. The more likely response is that they'll raise them everywhere else. Eli Lilly, the American pharmaceutical giant behind the weight-loss jab Mounjaro, has announced that from September the recommended retail price of its strongest monthly dose in Britain will leap from £122 to £330 – inflation of more than 170 per cent. The company knows the NHS won't actually pay that much: it has already negotiated substantial discounts for the doses it prescribes. But by hiking the list price on the highest dose (which relatively few patients use), while cutting the private deals on lower doses, Lilly can appease Washington and protect its market at the same time. For now, anyway. But demand is picking up. In Britain, around 1.5 million people are already on weight-loss drugs, with 90 per cent paying out of pocket. Most take Mounjaro, while a smaller number are on Wegovy, the sister drug to Ozempic. Novo Nordisk, the Danish manufacturer of Wegovy, has agreed to keep its UK price low for the time being. But costs will eventually be driven up for Wegovy users too if Mounjaro users, faced with a much bigger bill, convert to Wegovy en masse, squeezing supply. Fat loss clinics are already seeing a 500 to 600 per cent increase in Brits switching to Wegovy, which – come September – will cost half the price of Mounjaro. Trump's war on drug pricing will affect other areas of British medicine too. Weight-loss jabs have become the symbol of American pharma – and its many excesses – but they are by no means the only miracle drug we get for cheap. Take Casgevy, a US-made gene therapy that can treat the blood conditions beta thalassemia and sickle cell disease. One dose costs more than £1.6 million at list price. Thanks to its clout as the country's single dominant buyer, the NHS has secured a confidential – though significant – discount. Casgevy's eye-watering price is easy to justify: therapies at the frontier of medicine cost billions to develop. British politicians love to remind us that the UK is a world leader in life sciences, and in many ways that's true, but it's the US that is funding nearly half of all global life-sciences research and development. Trump, in typical fashion, wants the credit – or at least cheaper price tags. But drug makers won't cut their profits; they'll shrink everyone else's discounts. The NHS's bargaining power may shield patients for a time, but price rises are coming. UK officials know it, too. Even before the latest hikes on the fat jabs, government papers released alongside the US-UK trade talks in May noted that the NHS would look at the concerns of the President. No prime minister or health secretary could openly sign up to higher drug costs borne by the NHS, but they knew Trump had not finished going after what he considers to be unfair trade practice. The uncomfortable truth for the British is that as much as we mock US healthcare as extortionate and venerate our NHS as sacred, we live off America's excess. The American healthcare system is Britain's greatest scapegoat: it's absurdly expensive, highly inefficient and still doesn't manage to provide universal coverage. Indeed, it's the only healthcare system in the developed world that can distract from just how poor our own is: a 'National Health Service' that falls short of practically every standard and target set for it. The NHS survives only because we ignore its outcomes. Measure after measure shows that plenty of people are being failed by an expensive, yet decaying system. Britain spends around £36 billion a year on pharmaceuticals, £19 billion of that coming from the NHS. Medicines are already the health service's second-biggest expense after staff. But that number would be a lot higher without America. Britain may be world-class in medical research, but we spend just 0.3 per cent of GDP on drug research and development, compared with America's 0.8 per cent. American money makes Britain's drug research possible. And for years, until drugs lose their patent, Americans pay exorbitant costs which subsidise the NHS's bargain prices. This model which so annoys Trump perhaps helps explain why the NHS continues to enjoy such widespread public support, despite its many failures. We'll tolerate months-long waiting lists, worse survival chances and outdated facilities if we have cheap or 'free' access to life-changing medicines. But will we put up with the broken system if we have to start paying a fair whack for drugs, either directly at the pharmacy counter or indirectly through the increased taxation that would be needed to fund them? The government won't give up our bargain pricing without a fight. Quietly, and at significant political cost, health officials will roll out a new strategy. We're never going to pay American prices for drugs – the 'free at the point of use' funding model simply could not afford it. Instead, we'll try to make our research environment so attractive to manufacturers that they'll reward us by maintaining drug discounts. That's the real motivation behind Wes Streeting's planned reforms for the NHS, which are championed by his supporters as a way to improve the patient experience and attacked by his critics as a covert means of privatising the health service. Take the single patient record, which NHS England says will give 'every part of the NHS a full picture of the patient'. Perhaps – but it will also make it far easier to identify people for clinical trials and medical research. Look at the partnership between the Wellcome Trust and the government to create a £600 million health data research service. The stated aim is to 'simplify access to health data and speed up research'. But it also makes Britain an attractive place for pharmaceutical companies. The offer is simple: we'll make it as easy and welcoming as possible for you to do your research here, you've just got to keep paying for it. This is the part British politicians never want to say out loud, especially when it comes to healthcare: someone, somewhere, is always paying for it. Drugs aren't 'cheap'. The NHS isn't 'free'. There are always trade-offs: either higher prices, longer wait times, or uncomfortable deals and data swaps with Big Medicine. No matter how you spin it, Britain's 'free ride' is coming to an end.
