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Plastic Flooring suspected to induce Asthma and Allergy in Children
10-08-2004
The daily tabloid, B.T.: 10-08-04
A new Danish-Swedish study proves that plastic flooring, containing the plasticizing phthalates, triples children’s risk to promote asthma and allergy. Professor Jan Sundell of the Technical University of Denmark is behind the study along with his co-authors authors from the Aarhus University and the Karlstad University of Sweden, and based on the findings he says: “Parents should assess our study with seriousness and concern. If I got a baby, I would simply not have old plastic flooring in my house after our findings. I would prefer an ordinary wooden flooring.” The study includes 11.000 children from Sweden, and Jan Sundell expresses the following as to the guarantee of the study: “We ourselves find that it is a secure study, however, we think that there is still a need for a new and broader study to confirm our suspicion. A study like that can be carried out with Danish children soon, we believe.”
Arne Høst, consultant doctor of the paediatric department at Odense University Hospital, is one of the leading researchers in asthma and allergy, and he warns parents to panic on the background of the new study. He expresses the following to B.T.: “You cannot exclude the possibility of plasticizers in vinyl flooring have a certain influence with a view to the number of asthma incidents, but I do not find the study secure enough. It is a cross section study that takes a stock of the situation here and now. But what is needed is a so-called prospective study, where you follow a large group of children over a number of years, may be five or ten years. A very long number of factors have an influence on whether allergy or asthma is promoted, among other things smoking parents, domestic animal keeping, home environment and above all heredity.” Anne Holm Hansen, deputy manager of the Danish Asthma-Allergy Organization, too advises that parents to keep cool as to the findings of the study: “We need more research, and even more thorough ones, until we find it safe to recommend anything particular to be done. The proofs of the present study are not strong enough. However, they are a good hint.
See also the news: “Danish Asthma-Allergy Organization makes reservation as to new report on phthalates and asthma”.
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