Link Between Asthma, Gang Violence Doubted

The article on the extremely dubious relationship between asthma and the civil injunction against an Oxnard gang (“Ban Could Make Breathing Easier” (July 26) is based on idle speculation and does not even rise to the level of junk science. It does, however, devote four gratuitous paragraphs to a defense of the injunction by Police Chief Art Lopez without one word concerning how members of the community, along with the public defender’s office, have challenged the injunction in the courts as a gross violation of civil rights.

David Howard

Ojai

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The article suggesting a link between children’s asthma and obesity rates and gang violence in the Oxnard neighborhood known as Colonia missed a more likely cause of asthma and obesity: the Oxnard Elementary School District’s extensive use of portable classrooms to alleviate student overcrowding. The state has identified the district as having some of the most overcrowded schools in California. Portable classrooms allow more seats for kids but have been shown to have poor indoor air quality and other conditions associated with respiratory illness. Further, the portables are placed on land that would otherwise be used for physical education and recreation, thus reducing students’ physical activity.

Perhaps with better school facilities, both the gang activity and the health problems would decrease.

Richard Raya

Oakland