Wattle rarely causes pollen allergies

Wattle pollen is rarely the cause of hayfever or asthma. The persistent myth that it does, dispelled long ago by Australian immunologists, has been perpetuated with the help of self-serving advertising by some antihistamine marketing companies. And yet whenever there is talk of National Wattle Day as an alternative to Australia Day on 26 January, someone inevitably comments about wattles and sneezing, hayfever and grabbing the tissues. More…