Bangkok Professor Reveals Shocking $70 Billion Economic Cost of Air Pollution in Thailand in 2019

(CTN News) – A researcher at Bangkok University has revealed some alarming data on Thailand’s economic burden of air pollution in 2019.

According to Professor Wissanu Attawanich of Kasetsart University, PM2.5 air pollution cost Thai families a whopping 2.173 trillion baht in 2017.

According to Wissanu, the combined cost of damage caused by PM10, PM2.5, CO, NOx, and NO2 totaled 4.616 trillion baht.

The Puey Ungphakorn Institute of Economic Research (PIER) published a report by Wissanu that identified the top five provinces regarding the total cost to homeowners due to natural disasters.

Bangkok, Chon Buri, Nakhon Ratchasima, Chiang Mai, and Khon Kaen were the top five provinces, according to yesterday’s Matichon study.

The annual cost for PM2.5 in Bangkok was 436.330 billion baht, while the annual cost for total air pollutants was 927.362 billion baht.

This study indicated that when the latest guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO) are considered, PM2.5 poses a substantially larger hazard to human health than was previously assumed. A

According to the 2021 revision of the WHO standards, annual average PM2.5 concentrations shouldn’t exceed 5 micrograms per cubic meter.

As PM2.5 pollution levels rise over this threshold, it has a devastating effect on human health, increasing the risk of lung, liver, and kidney cancers as well as CVAs, heart failure, Alzheimer’s, and asthma attacks conditions.

As a result, Wissanu strongly suggested that the following suggestions be implemented immediately by government officials:

• First, educate everyone about the risks of air pollution, especially farmers and business leaders in the private and public sectors. Based on findings from international studies, this approach has the potential to be both cost-effective and highly beneficial.
• Step two is increasing the number of air quality monitoring stations in pollutant-prone locations and connecting them to mobile applications that issue real-time air quality alerts.
• The World Health Organization has recommended that Thailand raise its air quality regulations to the level at which other countries operate, although the country is now operating at just one-third of that level.
• Take immediate action to address the causes of air pollution, such as using fossil fuels in vehicles, open fires in agricultural and forestry operations (both domestically and in neighboring countries), and using fossil fuels in industrial production processes.

Wissanu emphasized the need to differentiate between air pollution types due to the varying release times and origins.

He clarified that the air pollution problem is not an annual emergency that can be remedied in a few months.

As many well-intended plans and policies fail once they’re put into practice, he said that politicians should regularly assess the success of different approaches.

In the previous month, air pollution has been a problem in many regions around Thailand.

PM2.5 levels in the air were dangerously high earlier this week in Pattaya. Dust levels reached 174 micrograms per cubic meter, much beyond the 50 micrograms per cubic meter standard for safety.

When the AQI rises above 100, it is deemed unhealthy; when it rises beyond 200, it is deemed extremely unhealthy; and when it rises above 300, it is deemed dangerous.

Officials say the dust level has remained dangerously high since the beginning of February.

Due to dangerously high PM2.5 dust levels, Bangkok, the country’s capital, was recently named the third most polluted city in the world.

Dust levels in Bangkok were third worst in the world, behind only Mumbai (at 207), India, and Lahore, Pakistan.

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PM2.5 Air Quality Worsens in Northern Thailand