Research strongly suggests that controlling such environmental asthma triggers as allergens and air pollutants would substantially reduce childhood asthma. For example, Lanphear and colleagues recently estimated that elimination of residential risk factors for asthma would reduce 39% of asthma diagnoses in the United States, at a cost savings of $402 million (57). Friedman and colleagues evaluated whether asthma events were reduced during the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, when Atlanta instituted a plan to reduce automobile congestion through widespread use of public transportation (45, 67). These efforts lead to a 22% decline in traffic counts;.
