Tree-lined streets 'cut asthma'

[flashl]

Children who live in tree-lined streets have lower rates of asthma, a New York-based study suggests.

Columbia University researchers found that asthma rates among children aged four and five fell by 25% for every extra 343 trees per square kilometre.

They believe more trees may aid air quality or simply encourage children to play outside, although they say the true reason for the finding is unclear.

The study appears in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

US rates of childhood asthma soared 50% between 1980 and 2000, with particularly high rates in poor, urban communities.

BBC

[liberal N proud]

1. Makes sense

Trees are natures filters.
But when developers start sub-divisions, the first thing they do is clear the land, trees and all.

[pleah]

2. If they actually taught basic science in school,

people would already know this.

[cosmik debris]

3. I hate bad journalism

The headline makes an affirmative statement of cause: "Tree-lined streets 'cut asthma'"

But the article clearly says: "...the true reason for the finding is unclear."

That's just bad journalism.

[Mrs. Overall]

4. I'm here in Western Washington living in a town that is cut right into the middle of a forest--

we have big beautiful trees everywhere and we have a huge number of children with asthma.
For us it might be the dampness and the varieties of molds and pollens, and I have also read studies that implicate the materials used in paving roads that find their way into the air.