The HealTH | OctOber, 2019
10
Issue: Haze
Horrendous
health hazard
of haze
In the event the sky is still fi lled with smog, this
article is worth the read
BY ASSOC PROF DR SHAMIM RAHMAN
O
XYGEN and clean air is an
absolute necessity for life
force. Polluted air in essence
reduces this very life force.
Haze is a phenomenon, which
is not foreign to Malaysians.
Our historically recorded haze issue goes
back since 1991 with Sumatran forest fi res.
We would leave it to the authorities to come
up with a permanent solution. But if history
is any indication of future, then this condition
The main cause for
haze is forest fi re,
whether intended or a
natural disaster.
API : Health Description
0-50 : Good
51-100 : Moderate
101 – 200 : Unhealthy
201 - 300 : Very Unhealthy
> 300 : Hazardous
*An API of more then 500 is considered a Haze Emergency.
Table 1: Taken from Ministry of Health Singapore
is not going away for any time now.
Having said that, haze brings long-term
catastrophe far beyond poor visibility. Th e
eff ect could be seen on economy in terms
of reduced number of tourism, closure of
schools, lack of productivity in work force,
lack of yield in plantation as a result of poor
photosynthesis etc.
One of the dreaded eff ects is none other
then to our own health, hence today I shall
write about horrendous health hazard of haze.
What is the diff erence between
an air pollution and haze?
Air pollution usually is a general term
determined by air composition consi sts of
sculpture dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon
dioxide, ozone and particulate matter.
Haze on the other hand comprises of high
volume of both organic and inorganic par-
ticulate matter. Th ese include substances like
poly-aromatic hydrocarbons and metals like
lead, cadmium, chromium, zinc and ferum.
Particulate matters, can be in the size of 10
micron and below. To put this in perspective,
Api Healthy person Elderly, Pregnant
woman, Children Chronic lung or
heart disease
0-50 Continue Normal Activities Continue Normal Activities Continue Normal Activities
51-100 Continue Normal Activities Continue Normal Activities Continue Normal Activities
101-200 Reduce prolonged or strenuous
outdoor physical activity Minimize prolonged or strenuous
outdoor physical activity Avoid prolonged or strenuous
outdoor physical exertion.
201- 300 Avoid prolonged or strenuous
outdoor physical exertion. Minimize outdoor activity Avoid outdoor activity
> 300 Minimize outdoor activity Avoid outdoor activity Avoid outdoor activity
Key: Prolonged: continuous exposure for several hours; Strenuous: involving lot of energy; Minimize: do as little as possible.
the human eye cannot see anything-smaller
then 40 microns. Th at said a human hair
strand is about 70 micron. A fungi is about
(2-10 microns), bacteria (0.2-10 microns) and
virus (0.005 – 0.3 microns)
If particulate matters are that
small, how can we see haze?
Haze is nothing but the refl ection of light
over the scattered particulate matter in the
air. As the concentration of particulate matter
increases, the perceived visibility decreases.
As such the more hazardous it becomes to
our health.
Th is is where N95 facemask comes in. N95
gets to fi lter particle matter as small as 0.3
microns provided of course it is worn cor-
rectly and snugly. Th e traditional blue-green
facemask is not eff ective during haze. Bare
in mind N95 is not suitable for children.
Children are best kept at home during haze.
Classifi cation of haze
Th e department of environment (DOE) and
ministry of natural resource and environ-
ment take the lead in notifying haze index.
According to DOE haze is classifi ed based on
air pollution index (API). Th ey do a great job
by updating the haze situation hourly.
Below are the modifi ed air pollution index
and its respective health description
What is Bio-variability?
While the above table is a general advice and
has been done with the best of intention, do
be aware about bio-variability. Bio-variability
refers to the fact that our body is not the same
with one another and one may react worse in
lower API to these particle matters.
I see many people going out in the haze
unaware of the severity of the eff ect of haze