Air pollution: Asia’s deadliest public health crisis isn’t COVID

The haze spreads across northern Thailand. For at least the last 15 years, neighboring Chiang Mai Province has endured days with the highest PM2.5 readings in the world. Unlike many parts of Asia, the crisis in northern Thailand is not caused by belching power stations and factories, or cheap fuel and ancient vehicles. The problem comes from fires deliberately lit to burn forests and agricultural byproducts. Lung cancer and respiratory disease rates have soared.