Air pollution over Chiang Mai on March 15/Photo:AFP
Mizzima
In an attempt to cut down on trans-border smoke pollution in Thailand, the Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin announced he is considering banning corn imports from neighbouring countries from January to April 2025.
Every year between about January and April northern Thailand is blighted by PM2.5 pollution. PM2.5 refers to particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers, 30 times smaller than the width of a human hair.
Such particles are very dangerous to human health because they easily get into the lungs and from there are absorbed directly into the bloodstream. Once in the human body PM 2.5 can cause many adverse health reactions, some of which are life-threatening. It is the most damaging and dangerous of particles because due to its small size it can reach and affect all the organs in the body.
On certain days of the year, the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai has the dirtiest air in the world due to PM2.5 pollution.
The PM 2.5 pollution in northern Thailand comes from the burning of crop residues and the forest. Whilst a lot of the burning that produces the PM2.5 pollution occurs within Thailand, a considerable amount of Thai PM 2.5 pollution also comes from burning in neighbouring countries, especially Myanmar.
PM2.5 pollution from Myanmar’s Shan State and other areas and countries bordering Thailand often comes from burning plant material produced as a by-product of growing corn, which is usually grown as animal feed. This is why the Thai government is considering banning the import of corn from neighbouring countries.
Mr Srettha said the problem cannot be solved unless corn imports from neighbouring countries are prohibited during the burning season from January to April.
Whether a ban on corn imports just between the months of January and April will reduce cross-border pollution is debatable as corn producers will be able to just wait till after April to sell their corn in Thailand.
Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos hold meetings to discuss ways to curb the trans-border smoke and haze problem caused by burning as it can severely affect public health.
Mr Srettha told reporters that Thailand has discussed banning corn imports with ministries in Cambodia and Laos, as well as with the Myanmar Army commander-in-chief.
Myanmar exports most of the corn it produces to Thailand and China. it has not yet commented on the proposed Thai corn ban.
But, burning this year has already caused bad pollution in Myanmar, on the border with Thailand.
From the beginning of March the Myanmar town of Tachilek, in eastern Shan State, on the border with Thailand, has been covered in a blanket of haze.
According to residents, the haze came from farmers burning to clear fields and forest areas to grow crops and natural wildfires.
According to the Tachileik District Environment Conservation Department, the air quality index (AQI) level in Tachilek on 14 March 2024 at 7:00 am was 234, meaning that the level of PM2.5 particles in the atmosphere was 184.39 micrograms per cubic meter, a level that is very hazardous to human health.
Tachileik city elders have warned people not to go outside unless it is necessary and to wear masks when they have to go outside.
