Government must act to find out cause of rise in asthma cases.

2.41.24pm UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 17th Feb 2004

The Global Initiative for Asthma report being presented to the World Asthma Meeting, claiming the UK has the highest proportion of children with asthma in the world is alarming but not surprising according to West Midlands Euro-MP Liz Lynne.

According to the report doctors are now treating 20,000 new cases of asthma each week and 75,000 emergency hospital admissions each year. Asthma is also the cause of 1500 deaths in the UK every year.

The Liberal Democrat MEP said:

"It is obviously alarming that Children in the UK are more likely to suffer from asthma than anywhere else in the World. The Government though, has sat back and watched this unfold without trying to tackle the problem.

"Asthma sufferers like myself, quite rightly feel neglected by the Government. It has prioritised areas like heart disease, cancer and diabetes at the expense of respiratory diseases.

"It is time the Government looked more at preventing illnesses. We can only stop asthma in children when we know what has caused the dramatic rise in the last twenty years. There have been many theories as to what has caused this increase in asthma but as yet we have no definitive answers. The Government must allocate more resources in to researching asthma and how we can stop the rise in cases especially amongst children.

ENDS

For further information, comment or to book an interview, please telephone

Liz Lynne on 003222847521(Brussels) or 077644 52725 (mobile) or Press Officer Stuart Ritchie on 01789 266354, 07833668158 (mobile)

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