Well that is the impression but apparently there's still a high instance of asthma, dur to chemical pollutants crossing the Channel from France.There is a high incidence of asthma in Auckland, with clear oceans and nobody else for miles around. Apparently it is caused by pollen.
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1