Three Days of All-time High Pollution Levels in Singapore Prompt Public Health Warning

A thick haze of smoke enveloping Singapore and parts of Malaysia and Indonesia has prompted health experts to issue warnings to people living in affected areas as the Indonesian government tries to create rain in a bid to extinguish the raging fires creating the smoke.

Pollution levels in Singapore billowed to record highs due to incoming smoke from Indonesia's Sumatra Island where farmers are reportedly clearing land en mass by burning vegetation. The incident has provoked a war of words between the neighboring countries, as well as sparked a public health crisis that may last as long as October.

"It's quite different to traffic pollution, but equally toxic," environmental health expert Roy Harrison told the BBC.

"The particles in the air are mostly made up of carbon compounds and sooty material and there will be nasty acrid gases in the smoke."

The smog can cause immediate health effects such as difficulty breathing, coughing and watery eyes. Over the long term, exposure of air pollution of any kind can have an impact on overall health and reduce life expectancy.

Singapore's pollution index reached a record high for the third consecutive day Friday, peaking at 401 by midday. Thursday saw an all-time high of 371 before dipping back down to 300. Wednesday's high of 321 is now a hazy memory. The previous high of 226 was set in 1997.

The country's health officials consider any rating higher than 300 to be hazardous to health and recommend children, elderly and those with respiratory conditions to refrain from going outside at all. Others are encouraged to wear a protective mask while outdoors.

"We do know that exposure to particles in air pollution affects the rhythm of the heart," Harrison said. "This could affect people in their forties who are beginning to have heart conditions which they may not be aware of."

Face masks are reportedly in high demand in Singapore and will protect people from the worst effects of the smog. But Krishnan Bhaskaran, a statistical epidemiologist from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told the BBC that the masks are unlikely to provide total protection.

"The masks may be sufficient to keep out some particles, but other gases would go straight through them," Bhaskaran said. 

In Indonesia about 850 hectares of forest are burning, according to The Straits Times of Singapore. Reuters reported the tactic of burning forests and farmland is considered a "cheap and quick" way to make room for commercial palm oil plantations.

Officials in Indonesia and Singapore are in a debate over the incident, with Vivian Balakrishnan, Singapore's environment minister, reportedly saying "No country or corporation has the right to pollute the air at the expense of Singaporeans' health and well-being."

In the past, Indonesia has been criticized by environmental groups who say the country has a history of weak forestry laws and does little to curb the slash-and-burn problem, Reuters reports.

According to a New York Times article, Indonesian officials counter that Singaporean and Malaysian corporations are to blame because palm oil companies they control can be linked to the areas where the burning is taking place.

Agung Laksono, the coordinating minister for people's welfare, said, "Singapore shouldn't be like children, in such a tizzy," The Straits Times reported.

In an attempt to quell the smoke, Indonesian officials said the nation will employ a technique called "cloud seeding," which involves dispersing silver iodine and dry ice into clouds overhead which will alter the microphysical processes within the clouds and induce precipitation.

The AFP reports planes took off from Jakarta Friday in a bid to douse the fires.

During a late-night meeting, Indonesia's president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered disaster response officials to "immediately mobilize all the country's resources" to put out the fires on Sumatra.

The only problem is that it's currently a dry season in the region and the right type of clouds needed for seeding are scarce.