Imagine a room full of people sneezing nonstop. Imagine looking into their eyes and seeing nothing but irritation. Now imagine an entire country of that…
Although we specialize in bare root trees at Cold Stream Farm, we pay close attention to tree news from all over the world.
Did you know that there is a war going on in Japan between pollen and its citizens? Up to 30 percent of the Japanese population suffers from hay fever. That is an alarmingly high percentage! It is 1/6 of the population! Hay fever is an allergic inflammation of the nasal airways, spurred on by breathing in pollen or dust. For three to four months, cedar tree pollen ravages the country; it is everywhere. This season, in particular, has been a nasty one. There, however, may be a solution.
In the article, “Japanese scientists create pollen-less cedar trees as solution to hay fever problem,” Ida Torres of The Japan Daily Press writes, “Scientists from the Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute announced the development of the world’s first pollen-less cedar tree, created through genetic recombination.” Sounds like a sci-fi movie, doesn’t it? Such a plan can eradicate the pollen problem. Nevertheless, one problem does arise: there are millions of cedar trees in Japan. It will be a long and arduous process, replacing these trees with the pollen-less ones. At least there is a glimmer of hope now for 30 percent of the population.
For more information on the Japan and its cedar trees, you can find Ida’s article here.
