When it comes to travelling overseas, Bangkok is one destination that comes to mind.
After all, it’s affordable to travel there for Singaporeans.
It has good food and shopping is pretty cheap too.
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But a new study that just came out might just change your mind.
Smog In The Fog
If there’s one other thing that Bangkok is famous for, it’s their traffic jams there, especially in the city.
Which is why wherever you go, you see and smell smog.
But there’s more to the smog than what you think.
PM2.5 Dust Particles Has At Least 51 Kinds of Heavy Metals
A new study by Dr Siwatt Pongpiachan, director of the NIDA Centre for Research and Development of Disaster Prevention and Management, found that the smog contains heavy metal toxins that can cause harm to humans.
And three of them, cadmium, tungsten and arsenic, are measured to be at unsafe levels.
The only metal that has a safe emission standard in Thailand is lead.
Dr Siwatt said Thailand requires safe-emission standards for other types of heavy metals to reduce the threat to human health.
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And here’s why it’s pressing.
Particles Are Small Enough To Get Through Your Body’s Defences
In case you didn’t know, our body’s amazing.
Through evolution, our body has evolved to protect us according to the environment.
Including dirt in the air.
But our bodies’ defences aren’t enough against PM2.5 particles, which are small enough to pass through our dust protection system in the respiratory tract, enter the bloodstream and reach our internal organs.
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Sources of Pollution
According to Dr Siwatt, his study revealed that the concentration of pollutants in Bangkok does not change much from week to week within the year.
This means, he said, that the majority of the pollution comes from local sources instead of from outside the borders.
For example, the incomplete burning of fuel in vehicles, especially those which uses diesel oil.
These emit a large amount of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) which can cause cancer.
Traffic congestion also drastically increase the level of tungsten in the air when drivers had to apply car brakes.
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Cremation of bodies will also release metals into the air when parts like tooth fillings and prostheses are burnt together with the body.
“There are so many temples in Bangkok that cremate human bodies every day. Even though many of these temples’ crematories have installed pollution filtering systems, not 100 per cent of heavy metals are filtered.”
So the next time you’re going to Bangkok, it might be a good idea to invest in a good mask, eh?
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