Leading Article: Time to take a deep breath

TO BE asthmatic is to be at odds with the world. Any number of factors may trigger that frightening wheeze, that constriction of the chest. Diet, pollution, emotion, household dust, animals, mould spores and pollen can all take a person's breath away. Who could blame Britain's three million sufferers for feeling a little paranoid?

Yet asthmatics are characteristically determined not to be debilitated by the condition. Benjamin Disraeli sipped white brandy to alleviate his symptoms when making those long Victorian speeches. Johnny Weissmuller took up swimming, became an Olympic champion and achieved stardom as the first Tarzan.

Today, drugs can prevent attacks and relieve acute symptoms, but there is no cure. And the disease can still be fatal: statistics suggest that six people will draw their last breath today because of asthma. So sufferers have a real interest in the environment. Welcome recognition of their sensitivities came yesterday from the Health and Safety Executive, which launched a campaign highlighting the dangers asthmatics face in the workplace.

In general, however, asthma is poorly dealt with by the National Health Service. Five out of six deaths could probably be prevented by better treatment or control of the illness. The Health of the Nation White Paper sets targets for reductions in teenage pregnancies, suicides, smoking, breast cancer deaths, obesity and alcohol consumption. Yet asthma does not receive a mention. If a reduction in the death rate and the 100,000 hospital admissions each year were demanded, the NHS would feel more pressed to improve its performance. And schools - especially those considering compulsory sport - might develop policies for dealing with a disease that affects one in seven pupils.

The increasing number of asthma clinics represents a start, but counts for little if patients fail to attend. As with screening for cervical cancer (which has a similar death rate) doctors should be given a financial incentive to call asthmatics in for regular check- ups. Once in the surgery, they need to be taught to control their condition, not simply dispatched to the chemist clutching a prescription. Lungs should be maintained as systematically as teeth. To this end, doctors could learn from dentists.

In the long run, asthmatics need also to know whether the startling increase in diagnosed cases reflects worsening environmental pollution. If that proves to be the case, the public may be glad of their wheezy counterparts, just as miners once relied on canaries to raise the alarm.