Traffic may worsen hay fever and asthma

Vehicles churn up road dust laden with pollen and molds, polluting urban air with allergens.

Miguel, A.G., G.R. Cass, et al. 1999. Allergens in paved road dust and airborne particles. Environmental Science & Technology 33(Dec. 1):4159.

1998. Surveillance for Asthma—United States, 1960–1995. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/epo/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00052262.htm.

Gershwin, M.E. 1999. Urban asthma. Allergy and Asthma Magazine. Available at http://www.healthline.com/articles/ac990106.htm.

Raloff, J. 1999. Big dust, little harm. Science News 155(April 10):231.

______. 1998. How inhaled dust harms the lungs. Science News 153(Jan. 31):68.

______. 1995. Heart-y risks from breathing fine dust. Science News 148(July 1):5.

______. 1995. Latex allergies from right out of thin air? Science News 147(April 22):244.

______. 1994. ‘Legal’ air pollution may also kill. Science News 145(Jan. 1):15.

Additional information about allergies and asthma can be found at Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Online at http://allergy.mcg.edu/.

The Journal of the American Medical Association provides asthma and allergy statistics at the Asthma Information Center at http://www.ama-assn.org/special/asthma/support/alertstat.htm.

David V. Bates
University of British Columbia
Department of Health Care and Epidemiology
James Maher Building
5804 Fairview Avenue
Vancouver V6T 1Z3
British Columbia

Glen R. Cass
California Institute of Technology
Environmental Engineering Science
Keck Laboratories 138-78
1200 East California Boulevard
Mailstop Code 138-78
Pasadena, CA 91125

Douglas W. Dockery
Harvard School of Public Health
Department of Epidemiology
Building 1, Room 1414
677 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA 02115

M. Eric Gershwin
University of California, Davis
Department of Rheumatology
TB 192
Davis, CA 95616

From Science News, Vol. 156, No. 21, November 20, 1999, p. 325. Copyright © 1999, Science Service.