Children exposed to the World Trade Center dust cloud appear to have a higher risk of asthma in the wake of the 9/11 events. Baseline data for 3,100 children in the World Trade Center Health Registry show that being exposed to the dust cloud more than doubles the likelihood of having asthma compared with children in the Northeast in general, according to Polly Thomas, M.D., of the University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark. Although other studies have identified asthma as a health problem in the wake of the attacks, none has compared the burden to the general population. According to the article, the findings have not yet been peer-reviewed and published, but the New York city health department recently released some of the data, collected in 2003 and 2004. For more information, visit: http://www.medpagetoday.com/Pediatrics/Asthma/7526.