Pathfinder
Editor, Senior Moderator
EGYPT: Black cloud season sees rise in health problems
Photo: Amr Emam/IRIN
CAIRO, 7 November 2010 (IRIN) - Every year a noxious black smog hangs over Egypt as the seasonal burning of rice straw by farmers begins, and with it comes a surge in allergic reactions and lung infections.
The inky haze lasts from October to November; it is a time when hospitals see a rise in patient numbers, and parents consider keeping their children out of school to avoid the worst of the throat-burning smog.
?Straw burning-induced pollution causes acute health problems,? Mahmud Abdel Meguid, chairman of the state-run Abbasiya Chest Hospital, told IRIN. ?This pollution causes a long list of diseases, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and chest sensitivity at best, and respiratory failure at worst.?
Read more:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportID=91009
Smoke rising as farmers clear their fields
CAIRO, 7 November 2010 (IRIN) - Every year a noxious black smog hangs over Egypt as the seasonal burning of rice straw by farmers begins, and with it comes a surge in allergic reactions and lung infections.
The inky haze lasts from October to November; it is a time when hospitals see a rise in patient numbers, and parents consider keeping their children out of school to avoid the worst of the throat-burning smog.
?Straw burning-induced pollution causes acute health problems,? Mahmud Abdel Meguid, chairman of the state-run Abbasiya Chest Hospital, told IRIN. ?This pollution causes a long list of diseases, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and chest sensitivity at best, and respiratory failure at worst.?
Read more:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportID=91009