23rd June 2008 SCMP
Children who live near a busy road have about a 50 per cent greater risk of developing asthma, hayfever or eczema than those living 1km or more away, according to German researchers, who say their study shows the strongest link yet between pollution and childhood allergies. Researchers from the Helmholtz Research Centre for Environment and Health studied 3,000 healthy children in Munich for their first six years, Reuters reports. “We consistently found strong associations between the distance to the nearest main road and allergic disease,” says team leader Joachim Heinrich.