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"I don't think I've ever seen a malady that had so many things blamed for it. Cockroach droppings, dust mites, mercury in vacinations, etc.

Steve Milloy has a huge collection of stories on this. I think the most plausible explanation for this "epidemic" is the self-reporting. Instead of tallying the number of people who go to a clinic and get diagnosed with asthma, they take surveys now, "Your kid ever have asthma?". Problem is -- fifty years ago no one ever heard of it and so they assumed it was just chronic colds."

I only heard about the mercury compounds used in vaccines vaguely associated with autism, not asthma. Correct me if I'm wrong. I can't read everything and FR too.

I've treated many folks with exacerbations of asthma. Regardless of cause, if they are bad enough to stay in the ER and be admitted, the only differnce in treatment may vary by pulmonary consultant.

A "cold" or even cold temperatures can precipitate an asthma attack. Earlier this year I bought the latest edition of Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine. When I was in training, they made a distinction between extrinsic and intrinsic causes of asthma as to what was the proximal cause of the attack. There was no such distinction in the latest edition of Harrison's, which is a standard reference medical text.

In extremis, these folks almost always have expiratory wheezing, especially before they turn blue. At that point, it's almost too late.

It could be a nocturnal cough to both internal and external wheezing but asthma has to be considered in what's called the differential diagnosis. I hope this is making sense as it's become very technical and clinical.

I only heard about the mercury compounds used in vaccines vaguely associated with autism, not asthma. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Here's one:

http://www.vaccination.inoz.com/asthma2.html

The general rule is:

1) Find any malady.

2) Find any popular bugaboo.

You will find some lawyer who blames 1 on 2.

"Blame" is the big issue here because of the huge legal penalties. Having allergies myself, I've thought a lot about this gray area between internal and external cause. But how does a jury translate that into liability. If someone is allergic to everything, should we ban every substance -- sue every manufacturer ?

No doubt that asthma is real and people die from it, but do you believe the epidemic is real?