A tale of two cities, no?
"Asthma rate higher in US-born blacks, Dorchester study finds" by Stephen Smith, Globe Staff | December 1, 2008
.... Theories for the disparity range from more sunlight exposure for foreign-born African-Americans during childhood, to less time spent cooped up inside, where mold, cockroach droppings, and other triggers dwell.
One of the most provocative - and even paradoxical - suggestions involves something called the hygiene hypothesis: Because natives of other nations, especially those in the developing world, may encounter more infections growing up, their immune systems often ignore threats such as dust mites and mold. When the immune system does not regularly confront life-threatening diseases, its ammunition instead is directed at lesser enemies, provoking allergic reactions that can spawn asthma.
"There may be a price to be paid for growing up in a more sterile, hygienic environment with fewer infections as a child," such as the United States, said Dr. George O'Connor, director of the Adult Asthma Program at Boston Medical Center. "And the price to be paid is that your immune system may develop more along the lines of promoting allergic responses."
They will think of ANY DAMN EXCUSE they can to take attention off of the REAL PROBLEM: POLLUTED AIR!! That's what is GIVING US ASTHMA!!!!
The Dorchester findings did not come as a total surprise: Earlier research had shown that foreign-born Asians and Hispanics appear less prone to the disease. The discovery is another piece in the emerging jigsaw puzzle of asthma, which has roughly doubled in prevalence nationally during the past three decades.
Gee, I wonder what would cause that.
Oh, I see, you were BORN with it! Yup, it is ALL ASTROLOGICAL!!! Hey, what sign are you? Pfffttt!
Yup, whatever the cause, it is NOT, could NOT BE, whatever it is, it is NOT CORPORATE POLLUTION!!! Yeah, go ask a kid in the Bronx why he's wheezing!
Evidence of the epidemic can be heard all across Dorchester, as the sounds of suffering ricochet through homes: coughing jags, raspy wheezing, chest-clenching gasps for air - and time spent in clinics rather than at school and work.
And here I thought it was just me; I told the doctor I thought it was asthma and he said it would just go away. ????
Everywhere Mary White turns, the Boston native finds someone whose life has been defined by the disease, she says, starting with her own. She has asthma and so do her three sons, and her mother. So did her deceased father....
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No wonder I have been having trouble breathing!
Mary White dealt with her family's asthma by moving out of the mold-ridden, vermin-attracting apartment in the South End where they lived. Now, home is a two-family in Dorchester. Shoes never touch the living room floor. Dust is quickly banished. And the floors glisten with shiny wood instead of wall-to-wall carpeting. All help reduce the asthma symptoms.
Not an option right now; I'm trying to hold on to my piece of s*** house.
She always knew in her heart, White said, that asthma placed an especially heavy burden on her neighborhood. But with the study, "someone's going to listen to you now," she said. "It's proof. And proof is important."
Unless it is in relation to CONTROLLED DEMOLITION COLLAPSES of WTC towers on 9/11! Then your proof don't mean squat!!!!
