Smog in Bangkok serious threat to public health: experts

[webfact]

Smog serious threat to public health: experts

By Pratch Rujivanarom 
The Nation 

 

The skyline around Bang Sue Central Station wears a shroud of smog yesterday morning. Dust rising from construction sites is blamed as one of the major factors contributing to the city’s worsening air pollution.Nation / Tatchadon Panyaphanitkul

 

Air pollution blankets capital for third day in a row, with prospects of prolonged unhealthy air quality levels

 

AUTHORITIES MUST take the air pollution problem in Bangkok seriously and strictly enforce mitigation measures to protect people’s health, academics said, while warning of serious financial costs to match.

 

They pointed out that the country would face billions of baht in additional health costs unless the severe air pollution blanketing the capital was promptly curbed.

 

The pollution continued to remain at harmful levels for the third straight day yesterday and the situation was likely to remain critical for at least another month due to weather patterns, said Witsanu Attavanich, associate professor of economics at Kasetsart University. 

 

He feared both state agencies and the public were largely underestimating the dangers of air pollution and proper prevention and mitigation measures were still inadequate.

 

Suvarnabhumi airport

 

Bangkokians awoke yesterday morning to find their city once again smothered by thick smog that reduced visibility to just one kilometre in some areas. It was not regular winter fog but a deadly cloud of fine dust particles and other air pollutants, according to China-based air-pollution monitoring website http://aqicn.org. The site reported that the PM2.5 air-quality index (AQI) in Bangkok yesterday reached a peak of 195, an unhealthy level, while some areas such as Bang Khen district were at hazardous levels, with PM2.5 AQI at 394 yesterday morning. The site forecast that Bangkok would face harmful levels every morning for the rest of the week because there was little wind.

 

Nevertheless, people wearing facemasks remained a rare sight around the capital. Many children and seniors could be seen going about their outdoor activities as usual.

 

“Air pollution is really a silent killer and many Thais underestimate the danger to their health, so not many people protect themselves by wearing a facemask or installing air purifiers at home,” Witsanu said.

 

 

“The official air pollution warning system is also too weak and doesn’t reflect the true severity of the situation,” he said. “Thais don’t have lungs of steel, so we need to consider the environment and people’s health before we pursue economic growth.”

 

According to his research on pollution-related health costs in 2017, every microgram of PM10 beyond the safe limit cost the people of Bangkok up to Bt18.42 billion in medical expenses.

 

While his research did not examine financial impacts that PM2.5 pollution triggered, Witsanu said medical costs are definitely much higher because PM2.5 has a greater impact on health. The current pollution in the capital will cause immeasurable additional health expenditure, he warned. “We all know that air pollution is not a new problem in Bangkok, and agencies such as the Bangkok

Metropolitan Administration [BMA] and Pollution Control Department [PCD] already have mitigation measures to tackle the problem. But our question is whether these measures are being strictly implemented and whether they can truly mitigate the problem,” he said.

 

 

Witsanu emphasised the importance of the authorities taking air pollution seriously and immediately tackling the problem at its root. He called for monitoring construction sites and limiting cars on the streets, rather simply telling people to wear facemasks. He urged everyone to spread the word about air pollution.

 

Environmental-health expert Sonthi Kotchawat cautioned that PM2.5 was so harmful because it’s very fine dust particles, small enough to pass through the lungs and enter the bloodstream. Long exposure can cause respiratory diseases, including lung cancer, heart disease and stroke, he said. Sonthi said it was important to mitigate air pollution at its roots by controlling outdoor burning, implementing pollution controls in the transportation sector and curbing the use of fossil fuels.

 

He urged the PCD to not merely issue warnings, saying its officials are obligated by law to mitigate the pollution at its source and protect the environment and public health.

 

BMA Environment Department director Chatree Wattanakhajorn said his agency has issued a ban on outdoor burning, was monitoring pollution-control measures at all construction sites, and was constantly cleaning the roads.

 

SUGGESTIONS TO IMPROVE BANGKOK’S AIR QUALITY

  The Pollution Control Department has introduced measures to improve its system for measuring air quality, but Greenpeace Thailand country director Tara Buakamsri said there is still room for improvement to ensure safe air. Here are his suggestions.

1 Update safe-air standards in line with World Health Organisation recommendations.

2 Set air pollution emission standard for power plant chimneys.

3 Promote the use of clean, renewable fuels in the transportation sector.

4 Improve public transit with broader access and more extensive coverage.

5 Encourage energy efficiency. 

6 Give people incentives to walk, ride bicycles and switch to electric vehicles.

7 Provide easy public access to the pollution monitoring system.

8 Add more urban green space as much as possible.

Source: Greenpeace

 

STAY SAFE DURING SMOG SEASON

With air pollution in the capital continuing to intensify, residents should follow this checklist to safeguard their health. 

- Stay indoors as much as possible – especially the elderly, children and people already ailing.

- Regularly monitor the air pollution level.

- Wear an N95 face mask while outside – it filters out PM2.5. 

- Keep doors and windows closed at all times.

- Change your clothes and take a shower immediately on returning home from outside.

- Drink lots of water. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30362174

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-01-14

[mok199]

 Pattaya was very bad yesterday

[Chippy151]

Bad enough that it's Monday morning.

I know someone who teaches at a Japanese school in BKK. The students have been kept indoors at the school for weeks. No playing outside etc.

At my school, we had extra long assemblies or line ups outsde last week. The kids had even more time to breathe in that dirt.

[SoilSpoil]

High smog levels are meadured in Rayong, Pattaya, and deep into Esan. I wonder how long it will take for those in charge to acknowledge the real source of this brown cloud.

[YetAnother]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

AUTHORITIES MUST take the air pollution problem in Bangkok seriously and strictly enforce mitigation measures to protect people’s health, academics said, while warning of serious financial costs to match.

thinkers advising the unhearing, unthinking; nothing will be done

[SoilSpoil]

Monday morning, Bangkok is at 117 ug/m3, almost 5 times the international safety limit. Keep your kids indoors today! 

[bbi1]

17 minutes ago, SoilSpoil said:

High smog levels are meadured in Rayong, Pattaya, and deep into Esan. I wonder how long it will take for those in charge to acknowledge the real source of this brown cloud.

Why so many fires everywhere? Is there an out of control bushfire everywhere?

[Prairieboy]

Perhaps educating the farmers to stop burning crop residue would be one step in the right direction.

[DoctorG]

Maybe all those magazines etc who give out awards for bestest of the best that TH keep winning could come back for a visit.

[Colabamumbai]

Waiting for T.A.T. to spin this in a positive way to attract tourists.

[SoilSpoil]

41 minutes ago, bbi1 said:

Why so many fires everywhere? Is there an out of control bushfire everywhere?

Those fires are one of the reasons that rice, sugar and corn cost near to nothing in the supermarkets, even after the agro corp's cut.

[SoilSpoil]

Chantaburi, the well known green suburb of Bangkok, is apparently also affected by the city's construction dust. 

[desktop]

Another serious issue that will never, ever be resolved.

[mok199]

23 minutes ago, Colabamumbai said:

Waiting for T.A.T. to spin this in a positive way to attract tourists.

Yet somehow blame the Chinese . I am sure the thai think tank is hard at work

[1337markus]

Same story every year for the last 13 years, nothing happens. So who cares?

[Crossy]

My low-tech measuring system (can I see the Baiyoke Tower from BTS Admin) says it's pretty thick, can't even see a vague outline of the tower ????

 

[UPDEHSOI]

16 minutes ago, Prairieboy said:

Perhaps educating the farmers to stop burning crop residue would be one step in the right direction.

You don't HAVE to educate them. They already know. But as so many of them have told me, burning is the easiest and cheapest way to prepare for next growing season or crop. If they plow it under, it will take too long to break down. Many have asked the Gov't for help in getting machines to grind the leftovers, as they do with corn. That's as far as they got with THAT idea.

[masuk]

2 hours ago, Prairieboy said:

Perhaps educating the farmers to stop burning crop residue would be one step in the right direction.

Chiang Mai has 3 months of pollution every year.  Nothing is done to reduce or stop it.

Medical experts say that pollution such as this can cause heart problems.

Remember that crop residue also contains pesticide residues.

Tourists will stop coming and then something might be done!

[william76]

This was the reading in Khorat. 

Some readers are right: Thais must educate their farmers to stop outdoor burning. 

But it will take 1 or 2 generations. 

In the meanwhile better to live the country if you can.

[newnative]

Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk.  Always just talk. Talk is cheap. Meanwhile, nothing in the least bit meaningful being done.

[SiamSully]

Best to ask Prayuth Chan-ocha to pray on this. Apparently that worked for the tropical storm Pabuk. 

[p414]

3 hours ago, mok199 said:

 Pattaya was very bad yesterday

Cleaned some indoor floor fans yesterday, what looked like black coal soot came off the fans..I live on the darkside,Now I know

why it is called that.

[Camilo Diaz]

3 hours ago, Chippy151 said:

Bad enough that it's Monday morning.

I know someone who teaches at a Japanese school in BKK. The students have been kept indoors at the school for weeks. No playing outside etc.

At my school, we had extra long assemblies or line ups outsde last week. The kids had even more time to breathe in that dirt.

I called my little girl school today to talk about this to the director who is apparently the only one there who can do something about it, they told to day I can not talk to him couse is SPORTS DAY!!!!! I told them they are so smart.

 

 

[RichardColeman]

Burning the poll papers maybe ?

[Time Traveller]

Oh stop complaining, those foreign tourists love the Thainess of the air in Bangkok

[fruitman]

1 hour ago, 1337markus said:

Same story every year for the last 13 years, nothing happens. So who cares?

No this year Thailand will have 40 million tourists who fly here, need transport and food...and will pollute more of course.

 

Unless the tourists prefer to go to a cleaner place on earth.

[ExpatOilWorker]

3 hours ago, SoilSpoil said:

High smog levels are meadured in Rayong, Pattaya, and deep into Esan. I wonder how long it will take for those in charge to acknowledge the real source of this brown cloud.

What is the name of that app?

[richard_smith237]

20 minutes ago, Camilo Diaz said:

 

3 hours ago, Chippy151 said:

Bad enough that it's Monday morning.

I know someone who teaches at a Japanese school in BKK. The students have been kept indoors at the school for weeks. No playing outside etc.

At my school, we had extra long assemblies or line ups outsde last week. The kids had even more time to breathe in that dirt.

I called my little girl school today to talk about this to the director who is apparently the only one there who can do something about it, they told to day I can not talk to him couse is SPORTS DAY!!!!! I told them they are so smart.

 

 

Fortunately the air quality index is checked daily by the staff at my sons school, when it’s poor the children are not permitted to ‘play’ outdoors - we are also sent an email when this happens explaining this. I would expect anything else. 

 

I’ve never really been aware of significant air pollution in Bkk, it’s certainly never been much of an issue in the previous years I’ve been here. But the last 12 months has shown a visible increase - What has changed ???  More factories? Change of fuel for self generated factories etc? 

 

 

[puukao]

NO WAY, i just read a report/poll on how BKK was the best of the best of the best of the best of the best...

 

what is this black lung thing i have?

 

should i worry?

[richard_smith237]

21 minutes ago, Camilo Diaz said:

I called my little girl school today to talk about this to the director who is apparently the only one there who can do something about it, they told to day I can not talk to him couse is SPORTS DAY!!!!! I told them they are so smart.

 

 

Pull your child out of sports day... arrange a meeting with the Director for another day when he is available to explain why. 

If you get nowhere, consider moving your child, the school is run by an idiot.

Or, each day the air index is above a certain level keep your child at home indoors (if there is someone there).

Of course, all easier said than done.