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Heat wave takes a toll on farmers

Even though the Dragon Boat festival -- which traditionally marks the start of summer -- is still 19 days away, the country is already feeling the heat.

After three Chiayi County farmers died on three consecutive days from heat exhaustion, the Bureau of Health Promotion warned farmers not to go into their fields in the midday sun, especially if they are wearing heavy protective gear for spraying pesticides and herbicides.

But a Chiayi fourth farmer died on Wednesday -- from pesticide poisoning, not heat exhaustion -- after he sprayed his fields with insecticide in the middle of the day without wearing any protective gear.

"There is no way to spray safely in the midday sun when it is this hot," bureau official Tseng Te-yuan (曾德運) said. "The heat makes the chemicals more volatile, increasing the need for safety equipment. Yet those safety devices themselves can be deadly in the heat."

For some people, the response to the hot weather has been to crank up the air conditioning. Using more electricity, however, not only hurts the environment, it will be hard on the wallet.

Taiwan Power Co's has raised its electricity rates, effective today, and the summertime pricing program will run through Sept. 30.

Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) sent a message to government officials and the general public on Monday when he appeared without jacket or tie at a press conference. He called on bureaucrats to leave their jackets at home for the summer to beat the heat without cranking up the AC.

The Central Weather Bureau said it was too early know whether the scorching days that ended last month foretold an unusually hot summer. However, on May 24th, the bureau's Taipei station posted a reading of 37.2oC -- the second hottest temperature recorded for that day ever recorded in Taipei.

"It has been warm recently," said Daniel Wu (吳德榮), director of the Weather Forecast Center. "However, the temperatures we have recorded are not noticeably out of line with recent years."

"Taiwan is not exempt from the global warming phenomenon," he said, noting that the last 10 years have been generally warmer.
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