--- title: Climate Change Pollutants Make Airborne Allergens More Potent description: Nitrogen dioxide and ground-level ozone appear to chemically alter some airborne allergens, increasing their potency, a study finds canonical: https://time.com/3753723/air-pollution-allergies-climate-change-study/ author: Helen Regan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-23T07:46:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:59:37.121Z article:section: Science og:title: Climate Change Is Causing More Allergies og:description: Pollutants chemically alter airborne allergens, making them more potent og:url: https://time.com/3753723/air-pollution-allergies-climate-change-study/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdff7390634991b69/698784ab8e0601e39e45ae2b/smog-air-pollutants-allergies.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Smog arrives at the banks of Songhua River on January 22, 2015 in Jilin, Jilin province of China. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Climate Change Is Causing More Allergies twitter:description: Pollutants chemically alter airborne allergens, making them more potent twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdff7390634991b69/698784ab8e0601e39e45ae2b/smog-air-pollutants-allergies.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Pollutants Created by Climate Change Are Making Airborne Allergens More Potent ## Video: Science Cop Takes on Climate Change Denying Senator Jim Inhofe [Watch (HLS stream): Science Cop Takes on Climate Change Denying Senator Jim Inhofe](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/UbAmQMaL.m3u8) (3:52)  _Published 2014-12-04. When the GOP takes control of the U.S. Senate, Oklahoma's James Inhofe— a global warming denier—becomes chair of the Environment Committee_ by [Helen Regan](https://time.com/author/helen-regan/) ## Helen Regan Mar 23, 2015 7:46 AM UTC  Smog arrives at the banks of Songhua River on Jan. 22, 2015, in Jilin, China Smog arrives at the banks of Songhua River on Jan. 22, 2015, in Jilin, ChinaChinaFotoPress/Getty Images by [Helen Regan](https://time.com/author/helen-regan/) ## Helen Regan Mar 23, 2015 7:46 AM UTC If you think your seasonal sneezing, wheezing and sniffling is getting worse, you aren’t simply imagining it. Currently, some 50 million or so Americans suffer from nasal [allergies](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/03/150322080208.htm), but the number is going up, and researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Germany say a pair of pollutants linked to climate change could be to blame. That’s according to a report in Science Daily. The two gases are nitrogen dioxide and ground-level ozone, which appear to set off chemical changes in some airborne allergens, increasing their potency. “Scientists have long suspected that air pollution and climate change are involved in the increasing prevalence of allergies worldwide,” said the institute’s Ulrich Pöschl. “Our research is just a starting point, but it does begin to suggest how chemical modifications in allergenic proteins occur and how they may affect allergenicity.” Pöschl’s team found that ozone (a major component of smog) oxidizes an amino acid that sets off chemical reactions that ultimately alter an allergenic protein’s structure. Meanwhile, nitrogen dioxide (found in car exhausts) appears to alter the separation and binding capabilities of certain allergens. Researchers believe that together, the two gases make allergens more likely to trigger the body’s immune response, especially in wet, humid and smoggy conditions. The team hopes to identify other allergenic proteins that are modified in the environment and examine how these affect the human immune system. \[[_Science Daily_](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/03/150322080208.htm)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3753723/air-pollution-allergies-climate-change-study/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3753723/air-pollution-allergies-climate-change-study/"},"headline":"Pollutants Created by Climate Change Are Making Airborne Allergens More Potent","datePublished":"2015-03-23T07:46:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:59:37.121Z","description":"It could explain why more people are suffering from year to year","url":"https://time.com/3753723/air-pollution-allergies-climate-change-study/","keywords":["Environment","climate change","Science topic","Research","Air Pollution","allergies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdff7390634991b69/698784ab8e0601e39e45ae2b/smog-air-pollutants-allergies.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Helen Regan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/helen-regan/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdff7390634991b69/698784ab8e0601e39e45ae2b/smog-air-pollutants-allergies.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Smog arrives at the banks of Songhua River on January 22, 2015 in Jilin, Jilin province of China.","caption":"Smog arrives at the banks of Songhua River on January 22, 2015 in Jilin, Jilin province of China.","creditText":"ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/environment/","name":"Environment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3753723/air-pollution-allergies-climate-change-study/","name":"Pollutants Created by Climate Change Are Making Airborne Allergens More Potent"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Science Cop Takes on Climate Change Denying Senator Jim Inhofe","description":"When the GOP takes control of the U.S. Senate, Oklahoma's James Inhofe— a global warming denier—becomes chair of the Environment Committee","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/UbAmQMaL/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-12-04T19:23:29.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/UbAmQMaL.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3753723/air-pollution-allergies-climate-change-study/","duration":"PT3M52S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3753723/air-pollution-allergies-climate-change-study/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```