Clouds with no silver lining
Chiang Mai, the jewel of northern Thailand, is shrouded in a blanket of cancerous smoke. Famous tourist landmarks like Doi Suthep lie hidden, smothered by smog and invisible to the eye
Chiang Mai is choking, as is most of northern Thailand. Grey smoke billows from thousands of deliberately lit fires, both large and small. Mountains, temples and city tower blocks dim into a dull grey background. An ineffectual sun tries to shine through the dusty haze.
Take a drive in any direction and it looks like a scorched earth policy has been enacted for Chiang Mai and its surrounds. Roadside shrubs and grass verges are burnt to blackened lanes; trees planted on centre road median strips are crisped to their charcoaled bare branches.
Long-term residents make plans to take refuge in southern beach towns. Others, unable to get away, spend time following the rising air quality figures on the Pollution Control Department's website with little hope of relief from the smoke. Emergency rooms at most of the city's hospitals juggle services to cope with the increase in people coming in with asthma, allergies, chronic bronchitis, pneumonia and emphysema.
- Dr Chaicharn Pothirat, the head of the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Allergy at the Department of Medicine at Chiang Mai University, says once the air quality in Chiang Mai drops, peoples' health risks increase. "The number of people seeking emergency help for asthma, allergies and COPD [Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease] is much higher now the air is so polluted and today the PM10 levels are so high they are dangerous."
PM10 levels are used to indicate the density of miniscule particulate matter in the air we breathe. The particles are so small the human eye cannot see them, but they can be lethal if these tiny particles find their way into our lungs and stay.
Numerous international and local scientific papers have identified cancer as the most common cause of death in Thailand and lung cancer as the second. A paper put out by the National Cancer Institute identifies lung cancer as the top cancer killer of Chiang Mai men and the second in women.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says particulate matter (PM) "affects more people than any other pollutant. The major components of PM are sulfate, nitrates, ammonia, sodium chloride, carbon, mineral dust and water. It consists of a complex mixture of solid and liquid particles of organic and inorganic substances suspended in the air".
The Pollution Control Board, Regional Area Air Quality Data webpage shows Chiang Mai's PM10 levels are dangerously high at 268.4, Mae Sai 328 and Mae Hong Son a staggering 437.8. To put the severity of northern Thailand's current high figures in context, international standards consider anything more than 50 a serious threat. Dr Chaicharn says Chiang Mai PM10 is at least five times higher than the acceptable international standards. Some doctors argue there is no such thing as "safe levels" of particulate matter.
The World Health Organization's Fact Sheet #313 estimates that air pollution causes two million premature deaths worldwide each year. WHO's fact sheet also paints a disturbing picture for Chiang Mai and northern Thailand residents, citing that "even relatively low concentrations of air pollutants have been related to a range of adverse health effects".
Wandee loves Chiang Mai's lifestyle and moved there from Bangkok to work as a writer and to raise her four-year-old son, but now says she may have to consider leaving if the pollution does not improve. Speaking from her sickbed she explained.
"Last year I took my son to Bangkok because of the smoke. This year I'm sick. My eyes want to cry. My throat hurts. I cough all day and night. I can't sleep, I can't breathe and my nose is blocked. I'm worried about my son - he's so young. I'm thinking of taking him to Bangkok. It's expensive, but my son's health is more important. I've had to take him for the last two years. It's ironic, but I moved to Chiang Mai from Bangkok because I thought the air was good."
Journalist Jeff Hodson has had enough. "I can't take it any more. Every year the politicians talk and talk and talk, but nothing gets done to stop the pollution." This is the third year the Hodson family has evacuated because of the smoke. "Last year we left for five weeks. My eyes sting, my kids have coughs and my wife has headaches. They're going crazy locked inside all day. My kids are two and four."
Hodson says it cost him about 100,000 baht to move out last year and wonders if there's not some way citizens can take a class action against the government for failing to enforce laws to stop the burning. "Someone has to take responsibility, someone has to enforce the law. There are serious health risks involved, like cancers. What price do we put on our children's health?"
But not everybody is able to leave the city. Ewun has been driving a tuk tuk around Chiang Mai for four years and says Chiang Mai's smog is getting worse. "I'm used to pollution, but I can't handle this. My eyes are sore, I can't see and my throat hurts. Tourists are running away, they don't want to come here when it's like this. Yesterday, I couldn't take any more. I went home. I'm losing money, my customers all complain. It's too smokey to work. Someone should fix it."
But finding "someone" to fix the annual burning off is not easy. A trawl of newspaper clippings shows there is plenty of media space devoted to local politicians talking about how they plan to fix the pollution. Buzz words like recycling, eco-friendly, composting, pollution hotlines, posters, clean air campaigns and healthy food fairs all are uttered.
In a recent edition of The Chiang Mai Mail, Boonlert Buranupakorn, the president of Chiang Mai's Provincial Authority, said he planned to work with agencies to "speed up the installation of water spraying machines around the city roads to make the city wet so as to reduce dust in the air".
But residents say it's the same every year. Politicians and city officials talk, but nothing changes. Politicians have blamed everyone from Korean Bar-B-Que restaurants, slash and burn hill farmers, backyard rubbish burners, gardeners and even neighbouring countries such as Laos and Burma for the polluting smoke.
Meanwhile, in spite of the political spin from officials and government officers, northern Thailand continues to burn, often within sight of the law enforcers. Somchai is a professional driver. He drives a luxury mini-van to tourist spots and is a regular traveller on northern roads. He says he was surprised to see land burning opposite a fire fighting office. "They advertise their number for us to call if we see a fire. It's a joke - government officials do nothing. They just talk, but never take action." Somchai says politicians should be aware that the smoke pollution affects everyone. "People are getting angry. My customers don't like it, it's bad for my kids, the smoke and roadside fires makes it dangerous to drive."
A drive out of Chiang Mai confirms what Somchai says. A mountain top, necklaced with flames and billowing smoke, is within a couple of hundred metres of an official checkpoint. Somchai says this year the indiscriminate burning has worsened. "Nobody seems to care. Every year it's the same. They make noises about doing clean-ups, but nothing ever gets done. It will be the same again next year."
Dr Chaicharn agrees and says officials have to do more and policy makers have to take the annual smog seriously. "I and my colleagues are fed-up of dealing with sickness that could be prevented if policy makers tackled the problems with serious intent and stopped the burning before it's too late."
Hodson, like most of the people interviewed or spoken to for this article, felt politicians were more part of the problem than the solution, and if nothing is done he'll have little option but to take his young family elsewhere. "Chiang Mai is a great place, but the pollution is the main reason I won't be staying long-term. Most of the time it's a lovely place, but when they start burning I can't stop them and the government doesn't stop them. What choice do we have?"
The WHO acknowledges air quality control is not something individuals can do much about. "Exposure to air pollutants is largely beyond the control of individuals and requires action by public authorities at the national, regional and even international levels."
In the meantime, Dr Chaicharn says parents should follow his advice. "Don't take exercise outdoors, while the air quality is bad. Keep your children inside. If you have to go outside, wear a mask and if you drive a car, don't take air from the outside. This pollution not only affects lungs, but is also a factor for people with diabetes, high blood pressure, circulatory diseases and heart conditions."
Dr Chaicharn and his colleagues have just completed a study that proves that when the PM10 levels increase then so does the number of people seeking emergency care. "When the PM10 levels go up, then so does the number of people requiring treatment for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Every time the PM10 increases by 10% we see an increase of two to three per cent of people needing emergency treatment."
Somchai says if government policy makers don't enforce the laws and curb the annual burning, Chiang Mai might soon become infamous as the lung cancer research capital of Thailand.
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