Paris to alert allergy sufferers faster thanks to first-ever ‘pollinarium’

The space will also double up as an educational garden

The City of Paris has announced that there is now a sentinel pollinarium on its territory, allowing the authorities to monitor the pollination season and warn allergy sufferers in a timely manner regarding the levels of pollen in the atmosphere.

The facility has been described as a “first in the city”. It was created from scratch by collecting common allergenic plants from around the Ile-de-France region and putting them in one place so scientists can observe them closely. This includes eight tree species and ten grass species.

Forecasting pollen concentrations

Pollen forecasting is not a new thing, and the City of Paris has been monitoring these levels through an air sensor to produce reports for the past 25 years. The pollinarium, however, will greatly improve and ease this work, since it can alert the scientists about the start of the season as early as three weeks before the concentrations in the general urban atmosphere reach bothersome levels.

And that matters because the earlier allergy sufferers can get informed about this the earlier they can start preventive treatment for their symptoms, which in turn would be more effective. The same goes for ending their therapies, it’s best to do it as soon as the pollination stops.

The pollinarium is located within the Parc Floral de Paris, and its creators have stated that apart from its monitoring function, it will also serve as an educational garden. Explanatory panels are set up throughout the route open to the general public and provide information on the operation of the pollen alert platform which centralizes and issues warnings to the allergy sufferers registered with it.

Other panels placed in front of each plant provide details on its identity, its pollen, its ecology and its allergenic potential. Animations on allergenic plants and pollens and visits to the garden will be organized regularly to raise public awareness about allergies.