PUBLISHED: 6 Apr 2024 at 04: 00
Concerns about PM2.5 waste in Chiang Mai, which has consistently been ranked one of the world’s most polluted areas, have grown since an educational recently died from lung cancer.
Asst Prof Pichaarpa Pisutserani, a lecturer at Chiang Mai University’s ( CMU) faculty of political science, expressed her condolences to the family of Prof Rawiwan Olarnratmanee, dean of the university’s architecture faculty, on her Facebook page yesterday.
She claimed that Prof. Rawiwan is the most recent CMU teacher to pass away from lung cancer. He was also the recipient of the 2015-2016 Council of Deans of Architecture Schools of Thailand Award for remarkable achievements in the field.
Three additional Yale educators have died from heart cancer since 2022, according to Asst. Prof. Pichaarpa.
They were Assoc Prof Panuwan Chanthawankura, from the faculty of science who died in March 2022, Assoc Prof Mongkol Rayanakhon, from the same university who died in September last season, and Krittai Tanasombatkul, from the faculty of medicine who died in December last year.
She also said that Mongkol, a former dean of the scientific university, had researched cloud waste since 2007, at a time when PM2.5 was no commonly known to the public.
However, the Chiang Mai Breathe Council issued a declaration yesterday exhorting locals and visitors to take all necessary measures until the fog condition improves.
It claimed that the province’s haze pollution was important, with three tambons in three distinct districts having concentrations of more than 100 microgrammes per cubic meter ( g/m3 ) since March 25.
They were tambon Si Phum in Muang area, tambon Hang Dong in Hot city, and tambon Muang Na in Chiang Dao area.
The healthy threshold of PM2.5 is set at 37µg/m³.
Additionally, the committee made a request to the government and the anxious organizations to take steps to prevent damage from PM2.5 haze, including announcing a work-from-home policy.
The intensity of ultra-fine PM2.5 was 22.2 times higher than the level that the World Health Organization considers healthy, according to IQAir.com.