One of the best ways to prevent childhood leukaemia may be to your kid eat dirt

Today’s recommended Ramadan reading:

One of the best ways to prevent childhood leukaemia may be to your kid eat dirt. And roll around on the (unswept) floor. And hug that unwashed dog or other kid with the sniffles. Research out yesterday by one of the UK’s top oncologists concludes that many cases of leukaemia could be prevented by priming the immune system, extending the so-called “hygiene hypothesis” to the dreaded form of cancer, the Financial Times reports. “The hypothesis is the idea that autoimmune disorders and allergies are becoming more common in modern western societies because young children are no longer exposed to the pathogens required to build up their immune systems.”