Exterminators, Not E-Z Passes

So if higher-than-normal asthma rates in the Bronx are the result of cockroaches and not car pollution (as the mayor repeated over and over with scientific certainty*), I suppose that means that congestion pricing and trees are really unnecessary then:

Asthma is the most common chronic disease of childhood, one that strikes the poor disproportionately. Up to one-third of children living in inner-city public housing have allergic asthma, in which a specific allergen sets off a cascade of events that cause characteristic inflammation, airway constriction and wheezing.

Now, using an experimental model that required leaving the pristine conditions of the lab for the messier ones of life, a team of scientists from the Boston University School of Medicine have discovered what that allergen is.

“For inner-city children,” said the lead researcher, Dr. Daniel G. Remick, a professor of pathology, “the major cause of asthma is not dust mites, not dog dander, not outdoor air pollen. It’s allergies to cockroaches.”

*He’s been doing that a lot lately.