The forest fires and haze disaster in Southeast Asia last year may have led to the deaths of more than 100,000 people according to a study by researchers from two United States universities. A vast majority of the cases were in Indonesia, where fires were deliberately set to clear land for agriculture. (1)
In response, Indonesian, Malaysian and Singaporean authorities have dismissed this research that smoky haze from catastrophic forest fires caused multiple deaths. Some even contend the haze caused no health problems. (2)
Singapore's Ministry of Health said short-term exposure to haze will generally not cause serious health problems. They claim the study was not reflective of the actual situation, and the overall death rate hadn't changed last year. Folks are still studying the research which was 'computer' generated and not based on hard data. “People have died but to what extent the haze contributed to it, it's hard to say. If an 80 year old fellow with high blood pressure, diabetes, heart problems and exposure to haze died, what did he die of? This is a difficult question to answer.” (2)
