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Haze Again!
Argghhhh!
By Luk4all.com.my Editor
Posted
16th Oct 2006
Malaysia
is blessed with only 2 seasons a year, dry and rainy
season.
 But
now with the help of our neighbor we are can proudly say
that there are 3 seasons….. dry, rainy and hazy season.
Arrrrgghhhh….. Yes it’s the time of the year again where
we lost visibility of God’s of the beautiful blue sky
and the starry night, or the man made beautiful sky line
of Kuala Lumpur. We now need not go to Cameron Highlands
or Genting Highlands to enjoy the midst of the mountain
air, we can have the same feeling misty feeling in Kuala
Lumpur, Penang or even Singapore. Again thanks to our
neighbor.
Below is some of the information that I have compiled
over the net on haze….
What
effect might particulate matter 10 micrometers or less
in diameter have on my health?
Recent epidemiological research suggests that there is
no threshold at which health effects do not occur. The
health effects include:
·
Toxic effects by absorption of the dust into the blood
(e.g. lead, cadmium, zinc).
·
Allergic or hypersensitivity effects (e.g. some woods,
flour grains, chemicals).
·
Bacterial and fungal infections (from live organisms).
·
Fibrosis (e.g. asbestos, quartz).
·
Cancer (e.g. asbestos, chromates).
·
Irritation of mucous membranes (e.g. acid and alkalis).
·
Long term deleterious effect on lung function causing
marginally increased death rates and sickness in
sensitive people.
·
The factors that influence the health effects are:
o
The composition of the dust and its health effects.
o
The concentration of the dust.
o
The size of the dust (smaller particles tend to have
more severe effects because they may be inhaled more
deeply into the lungs).
o
The duration of exposure (possibly in years).
More info from this
link.
Space view of the haze condition in Sumatra, Indonesia
and Malaysia
What is HAZE?
HAZE consists of sufficient smoke, dust, moisture, and
vapor suspended in air to impair visibility. HAZE
pollution can be said to be "transboundary" if its
density and extent is so great at source that it remains
at measurable levels after crossing into another
country's air space.
How about HAZE resulted from LAND AND FOREST FIRES?
HAZE originating from large-scale forest and land fires
is characterized by a high concentration of particulate
matter, which, among other effects, reduces visibility.
Due to the specific emission characteristics of land and
forest fires, HAZE is predominately made of very fine
particles with a diameter of less than 10 mm. While
coarse particles flush out of the atmosphere within
several hours up to a day, fine particles have the
longest residence time (up to weeks) in the atmosphere
and travel extensive distances (hundreds to thousands of
kilometers). Their elimination out of the atmosphere is
mainly due to rain.
How does HAZE impact the HEALTH?
Particulate matter less than 10 micrometers in size,
including fine particles less than 2.5 micrometers, can
penetrate deep into the lungs. In recent studies,
exposure to particulate pollution - either alone or with
other air pollutants - has been linked with premature
death, difficult breathing, aggravated asthma, increased
hospital admissions and emergency room visits, and
increased respiratory symptoms in children. People most
at risk from exposure to fine particulate matter are
children, the elderly, and people with chronic
respiratory problems. According to the Economic and
Environment Programme in Southeast Asia and WWF, the
haze of 1997 cost the people of Southeast Asia some
USD1.4 billion, mostly in short-term health costs. More
than 40,000 persons were hospitalized for respiratory
and other haze-related ailments. The long-term impacts
on health of exposed children and elderly are unknown.
And more at this
link
Children
are likely to be at risk from regional haze for a number
of reasons. For example, they may be more vulnerable to
fine particles because their lungs are still developing.
Also, children's breathing rates can be as much as twice
as rapid as adults under resting conditions, and
children tend to have far higher activity levels than
adults on any given day, which will result in more
particles being deposited in their developing lungs.
It has been almost 10 years I have been suffering from
this man made disasters, which I think can be fixed, but
just that there are no commitment and too much greed
from people. Every time when this dreaded season
arrived, we see news paper report screaming, government
officials condemning and calling talks and meetings with
their counter parts, even asking the public to pray for
rain. I really felt helpless over it, as if there is
nothing that I can practically do about it other than
pray. And when the season is over, people get back to
their life and forget about the whole thing until next
year, when the haze arrived again. What even PISS ME OFF
more this year is the remark’s from our neighbors’
diplomat.
Singapore's Downtown in October 2006
Not this time, not this year, I HAVE GOT TO DO SOMETHING
ABOUT IT. What drives me even more to do something
about it is, I am going to be a father, next year.
I do not want my baby to born into the world to fill her
lungs with forest smokes.
I am telling our neighbor out there, that I have a
choice, I can choose. It is going to be a tit for tat, I
am going to BOYCOTT all goods that is being made by our
neighboring country. I will not watch any film that is
being shot in that country. I will not travel or visit
that country. I am making a personal commitment from
today, each time I am planning to make a purchase, I
will check where that goods are made. If it is made by
our neighboring country, I will choose not to buy it.
And I will list it down here. I hope each and urge
everyone of you reading this blog, will do the same
thing. Sent me an email if you found a good that is
being made by our neighboring country and I will update
that list here.
I will keep doing that until I see a commitment to fix
this man made dreaded disaster.
Let us... each and everyone of us DO OUR PART TO TRY TO
FIX this, for our own good, for our own health and for
our CHILDREN!!
Finally
this is something I read in the locally dailies sometime
back, don't think the words are right, but you will get
the idea :)
After we have cut down all the tress in the forest,
After
we have fished all the fish in the ocean,
After we have polluted the air beyond breathable,
Then only we realized that money cannot be eaten!!
List of item I am going to start boycotting.
1. Javanese coffee beans
Comments:
I share your frustration and I think many people can empatise with your
frustration. I've been delibrating on what am I suppose to write to you
until it cross my mind that I have something positive to write out of this
situation.
I am allergic to sulfur (a particle of haze), as I write now, my chest is
tight as if a big boulder is on top of it, throat has a burning sensation
and of course 'Boney Tyler' voice and the almost extinct 'panda' eyes.
I know that all this complaining will get me no where and there are plenty
more 'Haze' sufferers who most probably, be worse than I am.
Is there a vehicle or a 'media' or an independent organisation that we can
appeal to resolve this 'Haze' occurrence once and for all? Or in any way
we can start a petition. I am not an active 'political' viewer or activist
but I do wish there is an independent body that we can voice our comments
and have a fruitful way to resolve this. Or can we in any way set up a
petition and appeal to United Nations or WHO to set up Haze prevention or
educational commitee or fund? I am sure that a lot of people would agree
with this as we are not getting a lot of results from the political scenes
going on. It would be good if we can have an independent organisation to
enforce the preventional steps or better still with international
enforcement. If 'slash and burn' is the culprit, why can't there be 'slash
and recycle', organic farming, etc. steps implemented? I am sure there
are plenty of farming activities besides these. Are the agricultural
experts willing to enlightened them on this or are their views being ask
at all?
I do wish that there is something that we can do to improve the situation
rather than see this recurring again and again. I suffer badly everytime
it happens and once almost pass out. I hope what I go through do not
happen to any body else especially my close friends and family members.
Please let me know if there is any effective step I can do to stop or
reduce this 'Haze' so that I can breath a little easier without any
medical aid.
Much appreciation on your initiation of the column and I hope that you and
your baby will have better health on each coming day.
12/17/2006 12:01:26 PM | B.Ling
I echo B.Ling sharing. See, i do not know what has gotten into our world this days. If it's not the haze that is making the news, it would be war, rape, robbery and etc. Even we would NOT be seeing the end of these tragedies any time soon, but i would really want the haze issue to be tackled and our children is able to breathe a cleaner and healthier air. Is that too much to ask for?
12/17/2006 11:03:24 PM | maverick
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http://angelisticwitslc.blogspot.com/2006/03/this-is-why-i-dislike-about-my-own.html
http://twiart.blogspot.com/2006/06/my-dear-malaysia-212.html
http://arahkita.blogspot.com/2006/07/pak-lah-letak-jawatan.html
http://karipanas.blogspot.com/2006/10/local-news-new-proton-cars-for-police.html
http://mysingaporenews.blogspot.com/2006/11/myth-91.html
http://sivaissues.blogspot.com/2006/12/to-each-hisher-own.html
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12/31/2006 2:31:59 PM | go to see
hi good guuest
12/5/2007 9:47:50 PM | Posix
hi! it is me
12/6/2007 10:07:09 PM | Western Express
Hello, I'm Googlebot
12/9/2007 2:49:37 PM | Googlebot
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