I live in East Tennessee--which is one of the worst places to live if
you've got sinus and asthma problems.  Probably the worst place I've
lived (where my asthma became life-threatening) was Oahu, Hawaii.

I've always felt that vehicle exhaust is a major cause of health problems,
including asthma. Bermuda is overrun and badly congested by motor vehicles.
Even though it is an island, the constant fumes are probably behind the
increase in health problems.

Bermuda, a small island in the middle of the Ocean.  No heavy industry,
very few cars.  HVAC is not needed most of the year as simply opening
the windows provides a comfortable temperature much of the year, and
the ocean breezes will blow out all those new carpet smells.  Would
moving there help? In a word, No.

Hamilton, Bermuda, Mar 21 (Prensa Latina) Bermuda health officials say
that asthma is reaching epidemic levels on the island, according to a
Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) report.

Health professionals have formed a team to counter the asthma, which
now affects about one in six of the population. Experts say they are
puzzled as to the sudden increase in the cases of asthma here after a
decade of decline.

The disease, which can kill, affects one in four pre-schoolers and
cannot be cured, although the symptoms can be dramatically reduced with
careful handling.

Registered nurse Liz Boden, founder of Asthma Charity Open Airways,
said the disease is reaching epidemic levels in Bermuda.

"We have seen a decline in hospital admissions for 10 years now the
numbers are rising again. Why? We are not sure. This year we have seen
an unusually large number of viruses, which have caused coughing, and
wheezing even in people who have never had asthma."

"Others who have had their asthma symptoms well controlled for years
have been struggling. Many, many people have been visiting the
emergency room (of the hospital) with acute asthma episodes," she said.

Boden said March, April and May were the worst months in Bermuda for
asthma because of the changeable weather and the flowers´ pollen,
grasses and trees bursting into bloom.

The Easter lily is a particular hazard.

"Following a very wet winter, the mould levels are very high, homes
have been closed up and closets, soft furnishings and carpets are laden
with dust-mites - all potential triggers for asthma," said Boden.

Health professionals say they had planned a co-ordinated strategy to
deal with the disease.

Margaret Lester, of the America"s National Respiratory Training Centre,
has been leading sessions at the Bermuda College.

"The key thing is you need a health care team. It doesn"t work if only
one person is managing it. A doctor doesn"t have time to do the
teaching."

Lester, who co-ordinates asthma response for the whole of North
America, said pharmacists could play a part by spotting which
prescriptions were getting filled on a regular basis.

The sessions are being sponsored by Open Airways."No one should suffer
with asthma as there are excellent medications now, so why are so many
people struggling to breathe each and every day?" Boden added.

ef/

Pollution is a problem there.

See
http://www.bermuda-online.org/environ.htm
Pollution problems with resident population over 3,370 per square mile

"Bermuda today is the third most densely populated place on earth"

"Pollution has increased. The number of animals with cancer has increased
significantly in recent years and was the main front page topic in the local
Mid Ocean News newspaper of May 5, 2000. It has also caused severe mutation in
and virtual extinction of some other small species of animals once common in
Bermuda."

http://www.bnt.bm/Environmental_and_Conservation/environmental_platform.htm

" Atmospheric pollution levels are gradually increasing in Bermuda, a portion
of that increase is an unavoidable side effect of our burgeoning population"

See http://www-as.harvard.edu/chemistry/trop/oldpictures/may2001.html

A lot of surface ozone is blown in from North America.