Pollen is known to be one of the most important reasons of allergy related illnesses such as asthma, rhinitis and conjunctivitis. Pollen is produced around the change of the seasons, so these allergic symptoms also appear around that time and the exact information on when the most pollen is produced is very important to the health and treatment of people.

In countries like the United States, Japan and others, the pollen map is produced and put out as a seasonal distribution table and the pollen forecast is reported along with the weather forecast around the change of seasons when pollen appears in abundance.

The Pollen Research Center of the Korean academy of pediatric allergy and respiratory disease have installed pollen gathering appliances in the pollen gathering centers of the eight major cities of Korea since 1996, including Seoul and the Jeju Island and have been continuing pollen research ever since. We have collected the pollen every week and reported the data to international journals of medicine ever since and those information have become a valuable data since the results have accumulated through the years. In addition, we have found out the plants which cause the pollen and have contributed to the people who treat and research pollen related allergies by publishing the allergy illustration of ¡¸Allergy Inducing Plants of Korea¡¹.

In this reality of the digital age today, where unverified information is introduced to the public without any inspection, I think the establishment of society for pollen research website is very significant in the sense that confirmed information will be shared to the medical staff and to the public. I have the confidence that through this, we can lead more participation and attention to allergy and contribute greatly to the control of allergic disease.

I appreciate and would like to thank the researchers at the ¡®The Pollen Research Center of the Korean academy of pediatric allergy and respiratory disease¡¯ for collecting pollen without missing a day in their busy schedule and would also like to express my gratitude to UCB drug corporation of Korea for their big help in establishing this website.