1 Out of 10 Suffers from Asthma

7th is the `4th International Day of Asthma`, decided by World Health Organization (WHO).

Citizen’s Movement for Environmental Justice (CMEJ) is to hold an event called `Community that Works for Life and Breathing` with asthmatic women and children gathered at Seoul’s Marronnier Park on the day, and emphasize that “asthma is not a personal disease, but came from polluted environment”.

According to Ministry of Health and Welfare on the 6th, domestic asthmatic patients reached up to 10.1 Per Cent of the entire population in 1990, which is much higher than a decade before, 5.7 Per Cent in 1980. 1 person out 10 citizens is asthmatic.

Environmental experts point out that children’s asthma is especially serious. According to the Korean Academy of Children’s Allergy and Respiration, 15 Per Cent of domestic children have experienced asthma, and there is an increasing number of cases for children between 1 and 4 of the age being admitted at hospitals due to asthmatic symptoms. CMEJ policy director Oh Sung-Kyu said, “There are various reasons for rise of asthma, but atmospheric pollution, change in residential and eating habits, and increase of new allergic groups are the main causes.” Until now, factors that cause asthma have been known to be ticks, roaches, germs, dandruff of pets, and indirect smoking, but new research results are recently proving that asthma is mainly due to environmental pollution. Professor Baek Do-Myung’s team of Seoul National University actually analyzed asthma’s rise and change against preschool children for over 2 years, and the results say that children, who live within 100 meters from main street, have twice the higher occurrence of new asthma than other children.

shchung@donga.com