Health Update: Dust-free design

BRITAIN'S three million asthmatics are often told to avoid contact with the house dust mite. But this is easier said than done, since the tiny creature gets everywhere. Now help has arrived in the form of a model low-allergen house, designed by the National Asthma Campaign, to provide an environment free from common allergic triggers.

The house, which will go on show at the 1994 FutureWorld Exhibition in Milton Keynes next week, contains almost no dust-trapping soft furnishings or fitted carpets, substituting leather chair covers, washable rugs and window blinds.