.. and we needed an article from BBC to be aware of this? :O

> I take a long walk in my nearest park every day,

> By the end of each day they are covered head to toe in mud.

Author of this article lives in a big major europen city. It is fair to assume that "nearest park" serves as a toilet for entire neighborhood. Soil there is contaminated with parasites, excrements and toxic waste!

Children who play there will develop all sorts of mysterious allergies, skin rash conditions, asthma and so on! There are well documented cases that developed into limb amputations!

You should not assume nearest patch of grass is safe for children! Take them to real nature, where grass is not used as a toilet by city folks!!!