High quality masks needed for pollution

By PRATCH RUJIVANAROM 
THE NATION

 

 

Bangkok PM2.5 levels at less than critical levels, but staying indoors better option.

 

HEALTH experts have warned people that they specifically need the high-quality N95-standard facemask to protect themselves from severe air pollution, while Department of Disease Control (DDC) has singled out the traffic police, motorcycle taxi riders, and road cleaners to warn them that they are among the most at-risk groups during high air-pollution periods.

 

Though yesterday’s report from Pollution Control Department (PCD) revealed that air quality in Bangkok has improved, many parts of the country still suffer from severe air pollution. Health experts are recommending that people in areas of poor air quality wear N95-standard facemasks to prevent health threats from exposure to particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns (PM2.5).

 

 

Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Science lecturer Jessada Denduangboripant said that the health risk of PM2.5 was linked to their tiny size, which allows the particles to pass through our body’s defences and be absorbed directly into our bloodstream. But, Jessada said, the PM2.5 level in Bangkok was not as critical as many people feared and that they could choose to stay indoors to avoid exposure to air pollution.

“Healthy people can still go out and do their normal daily outdoor life activities, unless they work outside for a long time in areas with high air pollution. In this case, I suggest they wear a N95 face mask, which can filter up to 95 per cent of the particulate matters of only 0.3 microns in diameter,” Jessada said.

 

Bangkok residents will be able to breathe more comfortably again next month, as PM2.5-related air pollution will decline. Nevertheless, he suggested, people could help in preventing air pollution by reducing their use of private cars.

 

Dr Chantana Padungtod, director of the Disease Control Department’s Occupational and Environmental Diseases Bureau, singled out the workers in the three riskiest jobs for exposure to air pollution – traffic police, motorcycle taxi riders, and road cleaners. Chantana said that roadsides have the worst air quality and highest density of PM2.5. People working roadside should wear N95 face masks at all times to prevent airborne health threats, she said.

 

Environmental health expert Sonthi Kotchawat cited research at the University of Birmingham that found both PM2.5 and PM10 contained many toxic substances, including sulphates, nitrates, chloride, organic carbon, elemental carbon, iron and calcium, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).

 

Sonthi said PAHs are caused by the incomplete burning of fuel in the engine, which can be found in the exhaust from cars.

 

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has listed PAHs as carcinogenic since 2013. 

 

He warned that inhaling large amount of very fine particulate matter from the roadside was very dangerous to health and could lead to many diseases, including strokes, heart disease, and respiratory diseases.

 

According to the PCD’s air quality monitoring system, air quality in Bangkok is now improving, and yesterday was the first time in recent days that the PM2.5 level in Bangkok had declined below PCD’s safe standard of 50 micrograms per cubic metre of air.

 

Only air in Thon Buri district was found to remain at an unsafe PM2.5 measurement of 53 micrograms, with the rest of Bangkok ranging from 41 to 47 micrograms – slightly lower than Thailand’s safe standard, but still considered unhealthy based on the WHO safe standard at 25 micrograms.

 

PM2.5 level was at problem levels in the cement production centre at Saraburi’s Chaloem Phra Kiat district, as high as 83.55 micrograms.

 

Many provinces such as Khon Kaen (81.74 micrograms), Tak’s Mae Sot District (76.1 micrograms), and Prachin Buri (75.53 micrograms) were among the top of the list of the provinces with the most serious air pollution as of yesterday.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30339063

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-02-17

36 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

he suggested, people could help in preventing air pollution by reducing their use of private cars.

and how many people in bangkok are going to both comprehend and act on 'greater good' issues ?

Nope, they'll all still be wearing those annoying surgical masks, or holding their hand over their face 555.

Why is the average listed as 155 at 0700 today and never having been less than 74 in the last 48 hours?  Why is Chula Hospital reporting 144 at 0700 today?  Of course most of Bangkok reporting sites are not even reporting due to Chinese New Year so perhaps by averaging all those zero reports it beings down the average?  

http://aqicn.org/city/bangkok/

56 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

Jessada said, the PM2.5 level in Bangkok was not as critical as many people feared and that they could choose to stay indoors to avoid exposure to air pollution.

They could also choose to not use their cars so often or find a job close to home. Or choose to find a clean small car while living in the city, there's no need to drive a huge 4wd tractor.

Or they could choose to live in another city which is not overcrowded and unregulated.

 

Or they could choose to use riverboats, skytrains, metro's, electric cars but that's not high quality enough for the Thai cause you can't show your wealth in there.

Me and my 3M ... hedge cutting ...........taking no chances            ..

 

 

 

Cars eh? So they dig them out once every year and it just happens to coincide with the burning of the rice fields?

 

Honestly I'm getting tired of the relentless stream of BS. There should be appointed official slappers whacking the buffoons on the back of the head every time they open their mouths. A job for life for thousands.

Ok, why is staying indoors an option? I have seen no filters at windows nor doors preventing the tiny particles from moving inside. 

 

Inside you exposed to more fumes, in addition to the ones you are exposed to outside. Just think about all the chemicals that are used in ordinary households every day.

I can' t understand how they can make one think that you have a better air quality inside. An air conditioner is definitely not filtering out these super tiny particles.

Major problem in my region at present is the burning of the sugarcane.

and their diagram with levels below 100 is wishful thinking... Anyone ever checked on that?

Here you go:

 

http://aqicn.org/city/bangkok/

35 minutes ago, zappalot said:

I can' t understand how they can make one think that you have a better air quality inside. An air conditioner is definitely not filtering out these super tiny particles.

Agree but i guess they are doing it to give people a sense of security. If you tell them they run the same risks indoors they will demand improvement. Its not like you die tomorrow due to the polution, so it will be a problem a few decades from now if they can ever link the cancer cases to this.

 

Same as "duck and cover" when an atomic bomb explodes. Practise it twice a month and go on with your life instead of realizing your life depends on something outside of your reach.

39 minutes ago, zappalot said:

Ok, why is staying indoors an option? I have seen no filters at windows nor doors preventing the tiny particles from moving inside. 

 

Inside you exposed to more fumes, in addition to the ones you are exposed to outside. Just think about all the chemicals that are used in ordinary households every day.

I can' t understand how they can make one think that you have a better air quality inside. An air conditioner is definitely not filtering out these super tiny particles.

Well once you've inhaled all the tiny particles indoors the air got rid of them so it's clean.....

 

People with babies/kids better do so and go to the mall by car.

 

If they don't fix this soon i see the condoprices in BKK go down...

6 hours ago, YetAnother said:

and how many people in bangkok are going to both comprehend and act on 'greater good' issues ?

Bangkokians would rather cut off their arms than use public transport.

 

I think people are losing their minds saying wear masks outside, when the air inside comes from outside. 

Perhaps it's time to do something about the cause of pollution instead of dealing with the consequences. I'm not holding my breath though.

5 hours ago, Thian said:

They could also choose to not use their cars so often or find a job close to home. Or choose to find a clean small car while living in the city, there's no need to drive a huge 4wd tractor.

Or they could choose to live in another city which is not overcrowded and unregulated.

 

Or they could choose to use riverboats, skytrains, metro's, electric cars but that's not high quality enough for the Thai cause you can't show your wealth in there.

You could say that about any city in the world.

Back home, people live in one city and work in another nearly an hour's drive away. Every morning and evening hundreds of cars with solo drivers ( no passengers ) travel in opposite directions. There is a railway line between both cities, but of course no passenger service.

IMO some people are just stupid.

 

Bangkokians won't use small cars because their status is demonstrated by the size of their car. Farangs drive huge SUVs in the city because.............................

 

Posh Britons wouldn't drive Minis till they were used by the royals, whereupon their status went up, so it was trendy to use a small car.

If the *real* PM2.5 figures reach anything like they did in the North last year I'd suggest a full-on respirator and not just a particle mask.

I worked in a petrochemical plant for 34 years we had mask with different screw on cartridges depending on the need. Also we had get tested for a proper face fit. One thing here I never hear about is the exposure to talc powder that the Thai's slather on. One unit I worked in used 2000lb super sacks of talc to coat plastic pellets from sticking together. Had wear the proper breathing protector when changing out the sacks. Apparently talc is very bad for your lungs. Maybe someday people get educated to the dangers of talc

 

With goggles and a 3m mask I would be sweating like a pig, in 2 minutes, and I do not want to walk in Thailand, like that, Thanks You very much.

Geezer

12 hours ago, Jeremy50 said:

Nope, they'll all still be wearing those annoying surgical masks, or holding their hand over their face 555.

The rozzer who stopped me the other day to check my licence and so on was wearing what appeared to be the facepiece from a ghostbusters outfit strapped to his physog...

They could also choose to not use their cars so often or find a job close to home. Or choose to find a clean small car while living in the city, there's no need to drive a huge 4wd tractor.
Or they could choose to live in another city which is not overcrowded and unregulated.
 
Or they could choose to use riverboats, skytrains, metro's, electric cars but that's not high quality enough for the Thai cause you can't show your wealth in there.

Farang not understand. Small car no good. Need big pick up with diesel. Change ECU for power and big smoke. Sanuk mak!

9 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

You could say that about any city in the world.

Back home, people live in one city and work in another nearly an hour's drive away. Every morning and evening hundreds of cars with solo drivers ( no passengers ) travel in opposite directions. There is a railway line between both cities, but of course no passenger service.

IMO some people are just stupid.

 

Bangkokians won't use small cars because their status is demonstrated by the size of their car. Farangs drive huge SUVs in the city because.............................

 

Posh Britons wouldn't drive Minis till they were used by the royals, whereupon their status went up, so it was trendy to use a small car.

In my homecountry they use loads of bicycles...and have very safe lanes for them.

 

And the tax for clean cars is much lower than for big ones so you guessed it, many small cars on the roads.

 

Bangkokians also need big cars because they know how bad all the drivers are. And without a big car it's even very scary to travel in BKK on the roads.

 

We also had experiments where cars with only a driver were not allowed to use special lanes on the highway, that wasn't a success though.

 

Bangkok needs more supermarkets, all those markets and small shops create far too much traffic...supermarkets which get their supply from large trucks is what we need. And with an easy parkinglot so you can shop quick...

The NVG were a optional extra to the high quality face masks soon to hit the BKK market .. 

Who knew my SCUBA equipment could be useful on the way to the boat too!!

22 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Bangkokians would rather cut off their arms than use public transport.

 

I think people are losing their minds saying wear masks outside, when the air inside comes from outside. 

Perhaps it's time to do something about the cause of pollution instead of dealing with the consequences. I'm not holding my breath though.

Perhaps it's time to do something about the cause of pollution instead of dealing with the consequences. I'm not holding my breath though.

 

Hold it long enough and it's problem solved!

On 17-2-2018 at 7:39 AM, rooster59 said:

High quality masks needed

High quality made in Thailand ???

The only high quality you can find in Thailand, are tourists in Pattaya...

On 2/17/2018 at 9:43 AM, JAS21 said:

Me and my 3M ... hedge cutting ...........taking no chances            ..

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry , but the pollution seen in the OP photo is  not geographically limited.

 

Either countries and citizens decide to address it or suffer the consequences.

 

Personally, I  don't have  a dog in this fight.    I.e.  I have little interest..

 

 

34 minutes ago, watcharacters said:

 

 

Sorry , but the pollution seen in the OP photo is  not geographically limited.

 

Either countries and citizens decide to address it or suffer the consequences.

 

Personally, I  don't have  a dog in this fight.    I.e.  I have little interest..

 

 

So why the comment then ...

16 minutes ago, JAS21 said:

So why the comment then ...

 

 

I refer you to the two first lines in my post.

 

I  hope that answers your question.

 

 

In case you didn't notice it  please read below:

 

"Sorry , but the pollution seen in the OP photo is  not geographically limited.

 

Either countries and citizens decide to address it or suffer the consequences."

 

And yes..    "I  don't have  a dog in this fight.    I.E.  I have little interest.."  

 

Capiche?          Changes cost tax dollars and no one wants that.

 

Edited February 18, 20188 yr by watcharacters

... says the companies making "high quality" masks.

So, will the ever so caring and sharing government of the day do the right thing and offer all the poor and underprivileged a free mask to help combat the toxins that they breath in every day ? I don't think so.......................... 

They could also choose to not use their cars so often or find a job close to home. Or choose to find a clean small car while living in the city, there's no need to drive a huge 4wd tractor.
Or they could choose to live in another city which is not overcrowded and unregulated.
 
Or they could choose to use riverboats, skytrains, metro's, electric cars but that's not high quality enough for the Thai cause you can't show your wealth in there.

As if Thais would choose to do something that’s not selfish or protecting the environment


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