Since the mid-1980s, asthma rates in the . have skyrocketed to epidemic levels, particularly in young children. In the . alone, around 16 million people suffer from asthma. Asthma is a serious chronic disorder, and in some cases life-threatening disease, of the lungs characterized by recurrent attacks of bronchial constriction, which cause breathlessness, wheezing, and coughing. Researchers have found that pesticide exposure can induce a poisoning effect linked to asthma. Low-income populations, people of color, and children living in inner cities experience disproportionately high morbidity and mortality due to asthma. According to the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of.
