Risk of a calamity if North haze not tackled urgently

[kingalfred]

Encouraging news for all you expats in "burning areas" up north. Told you will die of lung cancer sometime in future

[Johnny S]

Good article but nothing will happen unless tourists stay away cause of this headline in foreign newspapers:

"Chiang Mai can give you cancer"

Loosing money can get them in action - at least for a while ....

[vivid]

Nice article.

Edited April 27, 2015 by vivid

[vivid]

One more interesting piece of study that does not involve the respiratory or cardio, but the brain.

http://www.livescience.com/50602-air-pollution-brain-volume.html

Breathing polluted air every day may change a person's brain in ways that end up leading to cognitive impairment, according to a new study.

In the study, researchers examined 943 healthy adults who were at least 60 years old and lived the New England region. The investigators used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to look at the participants' brain structures, and compared the images with the air pollution levels in the places where the participants lived.

The researchers found that an increase of 2 micrograms per cubic meter in fine-particle pollution — a range that can be observed across an average city — was linked to a 0.32 percent reduction in brain volume. (Fine-particle pollution is a common type of pollution that comes from car exhaust, among other sources.)

That amount of change in brain volume "is equivalent to about one year of brain aging," said study author Elissa H. Wilker, a researcher in the cardiovascular epidemiology research unit at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.

In general, a smaller brain volume is caused by the loss of neurons that comes with aging, the researchers said. [10 Things You Didn't Know About the Brain]

That same increase of 2 micrograms per cubic meter of fine-particle pollution was also linked with a 46 percent increase in the participants' risk of having what researchers call "silent strokes," which can be seen on brain scans but don't usually cause symptoms. Such strokes have been associated with poorer cognitive function and dementia, the researchers said.
The researchers found that the people in the study who lived in areas with higher levels of pollution had smaller brain volumes and were also at higher risk of silent strokes compared with the people who lived in areas where the air was less polluted. However, the study was done at one point in time, and Wilker noted that it does not prove there is a cause-and-effect relationship between air pollution and brain changes.

This is the first study to examine a link between air pollution, brain volume and the risk of silent strokes in a population of older adults, the researchers said. Previous studies have examined the relationship between air pollution and the brain in children, but not in older adults, they said.

It is not clear exactly how air pollution may change people's brains, the researchers said. They suspect that air pollution may cause increased inflammation, but the researchers are still trying to understand the link, Wilker said. Previous research has linked markers of inflammation to smaller brain volume, according to the study.

The new results may help the researchers understand "what could be going on between air pollution and serious outcomes like stroke and cognitive impairment," Wilker told Live Science.

The study was published today (April 23) in the American Heart Association journal Stroke.

[Wadan]

Very good addition to what I consider a very informative article. I understand there is a lack of good research in this field but I cannot help to always wonder why places with heavy traffic, smog, haze and particularly congested areas with vehicles that spill large amounts of exhaust have so many cancer victims. I look at the Philippines, china and Thailand and it just seems there must be a link.

[mr chow]

Plan B!

[daoyai]

Read an article recently with info from the Aggriculture. Dept. that Thais were eating more meat, mostly chiken and pork and that exports of such are increasing so farmers should be growning more corn to fill future demands.... expect the situation to get worse.

[Robert24]

Read an article recently with info from the Aggriculture. Dept. that Thais were eating more meat, mostly chiken and pork and that exports of such are increasing so farmers should be growning more corn to fill future demands.... expect the situation to get worse.

I think the situation will remain unchanged. Farmers all over Thailand do the same. The haze in the North is a weather related problem, ie the smoke from burning doesn't move because there is no wind, rain etc. Farmers burn both rice and corn fields. Next time this will become a topic in the press is in March 2016. Until then nothing will change. Every year same same.

[daoyai]

Read an article recently with info from the Aggriculture. Dept. that Thais were eating more meat, mostly chiken and pork and that exports of such are increasing so farmers should be growning more corn to fill future demands.... expect the situation to get worse.

I think the situation will remain unchanged. Farmers all over Thailand do the same. The haze in the North is a weather related problem, ie the smoke from burning doesn't move because there is no wind, rain etc. Farmers burn both rice and corn fields. Next time this will become a topic in the press is in March 2016. Until then nothing will change. Every year same same.

My comment was informed by the Agg. dept. stating that 4million tons of corn were produced for animal feed but the livestock growers require more than 5 million tons so they should grow more (numbers are from memory so maybe not accurate) this will mean more forest encroachment and hillside farming leading to more smoke and errosion, run off and flooding. Before the corn craze, most burning was rice and some shroomers now the environmental disaster area known as Thailand just keeps rolling along.

[rhinoboy]

Tough it out or leave. Nothing will change for the better with the worlds population increasing by the extreme magnitude it is doing. The planet is screwed. The whole place will look like a sci fi film if you live long enough to see it. So can anyone say when this starts again? March 1st? Mid Feb? Plan to get out of town next year. Aslo great article. Hope it hits some intelligence somewhere but.......

[Robert24]

Read an article recently with info from the Aggriculture. Dept. that Thais were eating more meat, mostly chiken and pork and that exports of such are increasing so farmers should be growning more corn to fill future demands.... expect the situation to get worse.

I think the situation will remain unchanged. Farmers all over Thailand do the same. The haze in the North is a weather related problem, ie the smoke from burning doesn't move because there is no wind, rain etc. Farmers burn both rice and corn fields. Next time this will become a topic in the press is in March 2016. Until then nothing will change. Every year same same.

My comment was informed by the Agg. dept. stating that 4million tons of corn were produced for animal feed but the livestock growers require more than 5 million tons so they should grow more (numbers are from memory so maybe not accurate) this will mean more forest encroachment and hillside farming leading to more smoke and errosion, run off and flooding. Before the corn craze, most burning was rice and some shroomers now the environmental disaster area known as Thailand just keeps rolling along.

I guess maybe speak to some farmers. Corn is a good alternative to rice because the price of rice is very low. You can mix pig food with both rice and/or corn. People use corn because it gives better returns in the current market.

Thailand is not an environmental disaster area, nor is the North of Thailand where the annual haze issue comes up. Like I mentioned before, the haze is really an issue maybe during 2 weeks usually at the end of March because of the weather. Compared to many other countries, life is pretty healthy here. If you want to avoid the 2weeks haze period, take a holiday somewhere else in Thailand for the time it is an issue. If you don't want that, maybe move to another part of Thailand.

[rhinoboy]

Sensible reply....

[elgordo38]

Tough it out or leave. Nothing will change for the better with the worlds population increasing by the extreme magnitude it is doing. The planet is screwed. The whole place will look like a sci fi film if you live long enough to see it. So can anyone say when this starts again? March 1st? Mid Feb? Plan to get out of town next year. Aslo great article. Hope it hits some intelligence somewhere but.......

Yes the whole planet will be like a sci fi film in years to come luckily I will be gone by then but my young Thai g/f must shoulder on. Yes the whole planet will be screwed. Hope it hits some intelligence somewhere but....... fades off into the distance no hope here its all about de money honey as the hooker said.

[inwardglee]

Thank you for this great article Dusit Thammaraks!

I cannot add more to this. This is one niece piece of journalism! The article is written so simply, and yet so touching. The sadness of the writer comes out, and without becoming an alarmist he addresses that paining concern about that present state of things which looks bad.

[onthedarkside]

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