Medical study links smog in North with rising cases of respiratory diseases

[namatjira]

Make the god damned mushrooms that they are trying to induce by burning the national parks illegal......prosecute anyone in possession of them, stop the trade.......

[Bob12345]

3 hours ago, Thailand said:

My half blind partially deaf 14 year old Shih Tzu came to the same conclusion.

If only he could write they would offer him a job in a government agency.

[huangnon]

1 hour ago, Xonax said:

The study also shows, that Lao Khao seems to be the cause of Liver Cancer.

It's the "liver flukes", or microscopic worms in raw fish dishes up there that make NE Thailand the world leader in liver cancer. The moonshine doesn't help matters.

[raccos21]

I thought someone promised to provide clean and purify atmosphere in 7 days time. So what happened still, haven’t got any solutions yet?

[elgenon]

Dang! I forget which American Senator said pollution is good for you. I should have saved that comment. I was embarrassed about it.

[newnative]

File this under Duh!

[e2x10]

They will continue to do nothing about it.

[mok199]

Thailand is so far behind they think they are first....sad

[Grusa]

2 hours ago, unamazedloso said:

Whats interesting is that there are people demending government funding and a new taskforce to go out and catch people and put out fires but this already exists. Police, forestry department and army are there to up hold the law and all have the right or i should say duty to stop this and fire brigades are supposed to put out out fires. Its just these idiots are too stupid and lazy. Nothing will ever be done. Stupid government allows continuing burning which serves absolutely no purposes what's so ever apart from killing the population Its insanity!

I wonder if the government believes that the slow killing of people is justified so that just a small group of people can take mushrooms, illegally farm, save time clearing/mulching fields. Seems backwards to me and far more effective to put a bullet in every idiot lighting fires. Who's more important a pathetic undedicated few or the rest...??

"Whats interesting is that there are people demending government funding and a new taskforce to go out and catch people and put out fires but this already exists."

 

Demanding, or dementing?  ????

[Rob5lax]

Great Article.  I though like others to post a No Shit or .. do you think?  Amazed that they actually paid for a study that concluded - 

“disclosed in the study on geographical inequalities of mortality in Thailand by Suchunya Aungkulanon’s research team, highlighted that health threats from air pollution are real.”  

 

Maybe pay for a study to determine if the sky is blue - oh wait, that might be good data and ironically better since Machine Learning might be able to predict unhealthiness based on the sky color.  Wow sarcasm lead to a good idea.

 

Sadly, issue is labeled a problem or a health threat - not a health crisis.  Since Bangkok has improved from seasons winds, the problem has disappeared.

 

I’m afraid many more people must die or tourism get further crushed before action is taken.  Worse the actions available may not be effective.  Seems like 1 minute to midnight 

Edited May 8, 2019 by Rob5lax

[Proboscis]

What the medics don't mention is the extent of the problem in locations like Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai areas. While other locations had a high PM2.5 reading of 150, Chiang Mai was at one stage in excess of 600. This is not just high - it is off the scale.

[Srikcir]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

The result of this study was related to reports about air pollution and asthma by World Health Organisation (WHO) and UN Environment on the occasion of World Asthma Day yesterday, which emphasised that air pollution was the major factor behind the severe asthma situation around the world.

A Thai study presented in 2018 an overview of the state of open burning of agricultural residues and the public health burden in Northern Thailand where the most common way of managing agricultural residues is through open burning:

 

• In 2016, the level of PM10 in the nine regions Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Lampang, Lamphun, Mae Hong Son, Nan, Phrae, Phayao and Tak were measured at between 68 to 160. The incidence rates of respiratory diseases and allergic rhinitis grew many times compared to those over some years.
• Health statistics indicated that respiratory diseases rank 5th in the top ten leading causes of death in Thailand in 2005 with 40.1 per 100,000 populations.
• PM10  air pollutant in urban and rural areas of Thailand has increased to the critical levels since 2006

https://tci-thaijo.org/index.php/Scipsru/article/download/143514/109539/

[tandor]

Medical study links smog in North with rising cases of respiratory diseases

....amazing powers of deduction.

[rascalman]

We love Chiang Mai, been there often as I live in. Bangkok. 

Would not go there no way in hell.

Might never go again. 

[Khun Paul]

Amazing news, anyone who is 60+ and comes from England will remember the FOGS of days of your caused in part by the same problem, seems scientists are unable to read the extensive research written then but spent millions writing this rubbish. Anyone with half a brain would know this, yet is seems Thailand generally does not ………………...Oh dear !!

[Bert Jones]

We need to remember Thailand is a backward 3rd world country. The tribes people who cause these fires are uneducated and mostly poor. The powers that be are underfunded and lack the means to deal with the situation. Apathy at the top prevails...the smog will never stop in our life time...it's being going on for decades. If you can afford too - go south in the smog months, after all, one life, live it...you may live longer. It's certainly given me the impetus to get off my backside and visit neighbouring countries next year...where the air is clean. The smog situation has taken the shine off my love of Thailand...this wasn't how my retirement was meant to pan out...if I stay in Chiang Mai/Rai during the smog months, I will surely lose a few years of my life. 

[connda]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

Medical study links smog in North with rising cases of respiratory diseases

I wonder how many millions of THB were doled out to "Experts" in order to come up with the astute observation?  <head-shake>  

[connda]

7 hours ago, donnacha said:

As I always try to warn people, the North of Thailand is a very special place but under no circumstances should anyone with options stay there between mid-January and the end of April.

Make that "Late May" and you're closer to the truth - at least this year.  

 

However, you can stay.  But -- like my family, you spend the majority of our time inside the house with air conditioners and HEPA filters running 24/7 - probably much like most politicians and 'leaders' do when visiting the the North to 'assess the problem.'  When you head outside you don a N95 particulate filtering mask.  

[jak2002003]

2 minutes ago, Bert Jones said:

The tribes people who cause these fires are uneducated and mostly poor. The powers that be are underfunded and lack the means to deal with the situation. Apathy at the top prevails...the smog will never stop in our life time...it's being going on for decades. If you can afford too - go south in the smog months, after all, one life, live it...you may live longer. It's certainly given me the impetus to get off my backside and visit neighbouring countries next year...where the air is clean. The smog situation has taken the shine off my love of Thailand...this wasn't how my retirement was meant to pan out...if I stay in Chiang Mai/Rai during the smog months, I will surely lose a few years of my life. 

That is your opinion, blame the uneducated hill tribes, based on..... facts?

 

You don't consider into the equation:

 

Thai farmers burning the vast amount of rice fields, sugarcane and other farmland

Thai people burning of rubbish, litter, plastics etc

Massive increase in cars, and other road traffic in Chiang Mai,

Thai households constantly burning leaves, branches and other garden waste,

Thai people burning land to clear it.

The massive increase in construction work and land development

Big increase in Air traffic.

Increase in electricity consumption leading to increase in pollution from powerplants. 

 

Just blame the poor hill tribe people up on the mountain....  

 

 

 

[connda]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

Even though the report did not confirm a clear connection between the high mortality rate from respiratory diseases

...because to do so would become a huge loss of face to the leaders in Thailand who would rather ignore the problem.  When it comes to losing face as opposed to allowing your citizens to die from PM2.5 smog exposure - you toss the citizens under the bus.

[AlexRich]

2 hours ago, Berkshire said:

Noticed that as well.  It's also prevalent down in Rayong/Pattaya. 

Yes. Pattaya no big surprise, but nightlife in the north is more subdued.

[Bert Jones]

Jak, indeed there are many factors contributing to the smog...but when I look to the mountains, there are no rice fields or vehicles up there, just smoke pouring out...the mountains are blazing! 

[AlexRich]

21 minutes ago, Bert Jones said:

We need to remember Thailand is a backward 3rd world country. The tribes people who cause these fires are uneducated and mostly poor. The powers that be are underfunded and lack the means to deal with the situation. Apathy at the top prevails...the smog will never stop in our life time...it's being going on for decades. If you can afford too - go south in the smog months, after all, one life, live it...you may live longer. It's certainly given me the impetus to get off my backside and visit neighbouring countries next year...where the air is clean. The smog situation has taken the shine off my love of Thailand...this wasn't how my retirement was meant to pan out...if I stay in Chiang Mai/Rai during the smog months, I will surely lose a few years of my life. 

Personally I don’t think it’s worth it. Apart from reduced life span you also have to endure many miserable days wearing a face mask. The islands of the south are probably your best bet.

[justin case]

wow, another THAI break-thru in the world ...who would have thought that pollution is linked to disease

[Medicine Man]

The only way this will be addressed by the incompetents in charge is if the tourism is impacted. I can't believe that none of the travel industry can be held accountable for sending unsuspecting tourists to an area with dangerous levels of air pollution. Maybe a few litigation cases might focus the industry enough to suspend tourism during those months, watch the Thai reaction then...

[TheRead]

I’ve been in ChaMai for the past 8 months. The pollution/smog from burning forests is now in its 3rd month. They are still burning today and the smog was worse this morning than the past weeks. It’s clear that this is a total abuse of the Thai landscape and is causing serious illness to those that reside in the north. 

 

Its claimed that this is the worst year! This is alarming but more damaging is just how badly and rife with corruption the legal and political system is ignoring this total abuse of its natural reserves. From my understanding the problem stems from mushrooms harvests and sale to China (for the most part at least). Locals burning are just trying to survive and this provides a boost of income to them, but the controlled markets are buying and selling internationally with vast profits via corrupt payouts probably to politicians and law figures. The corrupt profit to a select few is a ten fold loss to businesses,  tourism and the people of the north. 

 

I was In the final stages of buying land to build a house and raise a family here in CM. This blatant lack of regard and selfish greed by select few has turned me to drop the idea that Thailand is a safe place to live. This is a simple problem to solve. The political system should be embarrassed by its own blatant ignorance. 

 

Corruption is ugly in all its forms. No one wins in the end, even those filling their dirty hands with gold. It’s the worst form of cancer that kills the progression of society. It’s been 2 weeks since the Political leader visited CM for half a day and gave the command “you have seven days to clean this up”. Zero action has been taken. Solutions are obvious. Ban the sale of these mushrooms with hard strict consequences. 

 

I love thailand and it’s people, I hope it finds a solution and soon.

[Burma Bill]

6 hours ago, wisperone said:

"No idea why HIV is more prevalent in the north of Thailand (looks like CM/CR)?"

 

I would guess non protection and perhaps drug/needle transmission

Interesting indeed, but bear in mind this is where many of the bar girls and boys come from to earn money for their families whilst working the southern resorts. They become infected and pass on to friends and possibly families on their return via unprotected sex and/or dirty needles (as mentioned). How many of you farangs have had to make a trek north to Lanna or Issan to "meet the family"?

[TheRead]

57 minutes ago, jak2002003 said:

That is your opinion, blame the uneducated hill tribes, based on..... facts?

 

You don't consider into the equation:

 

Thai farmers burning the vast amount of rice fields, sugarcane and other farmland

Thai people burning of rubbish, litter, plastics etc

Massive increase in cars, and other road traffic in Chiang Mai,

Thai households constantly burning leaves, branches and other garden waste,

Thai people burning land to clear it.

The massive increase in construction work and land development

Big increase in Air traffic.

Increase in electricity consumption leading to increase in pollution from powerplants. 

 

Just blame the poor hill tribe people up on the mountain....  

 

 

 

I’m not certain he was blaming the hill tribes more pointing to a fact that they are among the people who are starting the fires. I agree your list of other forms are contributing to the problem, but these are year round issues. Majority of the smog is bush/forrest fires, proven by how the pollution has a dramatic rise at certain parts of the year.

Edited May 8, 2019 by TheRead

[mike787]

along with that OP.....Breaking news! Riding a bike with no helmet in Thailand increases mortality risk. ????  None cares!  If anyone did, we wouldn't have this problem. 

Edited May 8, 2019 by mike787

[Vacuum]

3 hours ago, Tracyb said:

How many people have to be stricken or die before the govt takes action

Considering that there's 60-70 fatalities/day in traffic, I'd guess maybe 150 deaths per day, could make them to do something about it.