25% incidence of childhood asthma in North Texas… wonder why?

From the Star-Telegram, January 14, 2010:

In D-FW, ‘sobering’ asthma numbers

Look at a third-grade class or a youth soccer game, and start counting.

“One, two, three, asthma; one, two, three, asthma,” said Larry Tubb, senior vice president for system planning at Cook Children’s Health Care System. “That’s sobering.”

It represents a growing health problem in North Texas, where 1 in 4 children ages 8 and 9 has the lung disease. The state average for 5- to 9-year-olds is 7.1 percent; the national average for all children is 9.4 percent.

-end of article excerpt-

Now, why would the Dallas-Fort Worth area have a childhood asthma incidence that’s more than 2.5 times the national average?

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