Chiang Mai can damage your health

Govt Warning: Chiang Mai Can Damage Your Health
By LAWI WENG Tuesday, March 10, 2009


Thousands of people in and around Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, have
been affected by respiratory infections and other health problems this
month, due to the air pollution, which is four times that of the Thai
capital, Bangkok.

Another major town, Chiang Rai, was on Tuesday shrouded in a brown
haze with air pollution five times worse than the capital, according
to the Pollution Control Department.

Many residents in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, have been affected by
respiratory infections and other health problems this month, due to
the air pollution. (Photo: ww.hs1ar.com)
Authorities have recently recommended locals in the tourist-oriented
city of Chiang Mai to wear surgical masks if they are cycling or
driving motorbikes and advised people not to jog or partake of outdoor
exercise or allow children to play in parks.

Health authorities have issued warnings in the local press warning
that the current haze could cause heart problems and respiratory
diseases, and exacerbate conditions such as asthma and bronchitis. The
air pollution could also act as a catalyst for throat and lung cancer,
doctors say.

Visibility in the center of Chiang Mai—ironically nicknamed “The Rose
of the North” by travel guidebooks—is around 200 meters in the
streets. The surrounding mountains—which trap the pollution into the
urban valley—cannot be seen from the city. The city’s landmark, Doi
Suthep temple, located on a hillside overlooking the city, can be made
out faintly at night through the haze, but only when its lights are
on.

Staff at The Irrawaddy, which is located in an office block in the
city center, have also been affected. One senior staff member who has
worn a surgical mask at work for the past two days, said that when he
went to the hospital, he was told hundreds of other people had come in
that day with respiratory infections.

“I feel really bad and I can hardly breathe,” he said, adding that he
had red irritated eyes, a sore throat, a runny nose and a slight
headache.

In the Thai-Burmese border town of Tachilek, a Burmese resident said
that she felt sick and that the town was becoming hazier every day.
She said that many people in the town had respiratory diseases,
especially children and the elderly, and had gone to clinics and
hospitals for treatment.

The traditional rural method of slash-and-burn farming, whereby fields
are burned by farmers in the dry season between February and April, so
that the ashes fertilize the fields while they lie fallow, is
responsible for the greater part of the pollution.

According to local government data, the toxic levels of nitrogen
dioxide—mainly caused by emissions from factories and motor vehicles—
are fairly high in the mountainous northern Thai region. However, the
levels of PM-10, a particulate matter of tiny dust particles caused by
burning waste, are at a potentially fatal level.

In Europe and the US, the air pollution in an urban area is considered
“serious” if PM-10 levels reach 50 micrograms per cubic meter. On
Tuesday, PM-10 dust particle levels hit 181.4 in Chiang Mai, 243.7 in
Chiang Rai and 236.1 in rural Phayao district.

This year is by no means extraordinary for air pollution in the
northern province. In the particularly hazy dry season of 2007, the
PM-10 dust particle level in Chiang Mai peaked at a tear-jerking high
of 303.9 on March 14, dispelling myths about the northern capital’s
reputation as a charming mountain retreat with a healthy ethnic
vitality.

According to Earthoria, a travel and lifestyle Web site, even in
supposedly “clean” countries such as New Zealand, as many people die
every year from air pollution as from traffic accidents.

How has Chiang Mai’s atmosphere been allowed to deteriorate to such
polluted levels? We are (literally) dying to find out.

schrieb:

Thousands of people in and around Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, have
been affected by respiratory infections and other health problems this
month, due to the air pollution, which is four times that of the Thai
capital, Bangkok.

Great. Just as I'm thinking about a trip to Chiang Mai, I get this news.
*bummer*

Any experiences of last years situation in Chiang Mai regarding pollution,
in the timeframe of the first half of May?

preparing to change plans again: ....tmo!

F'up to rec.travel asia

In article ,
Thomas Endt says...
schrieb:

Thousands of people in and around Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, have
been affected by respiratory infections and other health problems this
month, due to the air pollution, which is four times that of the Thai
capital, Bangkok.

Great. Just as I'm thinking about a trip to Chiang Mai, I get this news.
*bummer*

Any experiences of last years situation in Chiang Mai regarding pollution,
in the timeframe of the first half of May?

preparing to change plans again: ....tmo!

The air was clean when we visited Chiang Mai in December 2001:
http://www.molon.de/galleries/Thailand/ChiangMai/

It is possible that at the moment there are bush fires which pollute the
air. Perhaps go there in a few months, not now. By then the rains should
have cleaned the air.
--

Alfred Molon
http://www.molon.de - Photos of Asia, Africa and Europe

"Alfred Molon" told us...

The air was clean when we visited Chiang Mai in December 2001:
http://www.molon.de/galleries/Thailand/ChiangMai/

It is possible that at the moment there are bush fires which pollute the
air. Perhaps go there in a few months, not now. By then the rains should
have cleaned the air.
--

There's normally no problem with the air quality in December - it is
February and March when the difficulty begins, as burning-off of land cover
begins in preparation for planting prior to the rains.
I know my wife has been telling me that in her area the air quality has been
worse than normal this year - lots of folks reporting to the local hospital
(just across the road from our house) with breathing difficulties.
Since she lives in a valley among the hills the smoke particles tend to sink
down from the surrounding slopes, and without a decent wind it can get
rather unpleasant.

_______
Geoff B

My Thai pics at :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/geoff_b...7602600521004/

"Geoff B" geoff_screen"at"yahoo.co.uk schrieb

There's normally no problem with the air quality in December - it is
February and March when the difficulty begins, as burning-off of land
cover begins in preparation for planting prior to the rains.

Thanks for the infos regarding December, I'll keep that in mind for one of
my next trips to Thailand, but coming back to my question: Any experiences
of last years situation in Chiang Mai regarding pollution,
in the timeframe of the ***first half of May***?-)


still not sure about visiting Chiang Mai: ....tmo!