EDITORIAL : Stopping a public health disaster

The well-being of locals must not be compromised for the sake of profit at Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate

The Industry Ministry took decisive action on Wednesday to try to contain the environmental crisis in Map Ta Phut of Rayong in response to growing evidence that there is a correlation between industrial activity and serious health problems afflicting local residents. The move followed the latest public scare after health experts released findings of their studies suggesting that pollution caused by the emission of noxious gases from the Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate, home to the company's single-largest petrochemical-industrial complex, may have contributed to a higher-than-usual incidence of leukaemia.

One study showed leukaemia - which is cancer of the blood cells, one of the deadliest forms of the disease - is more prevalent among residents of Map Ta Phut, with seven out of 100,000 there contracting the disease, compared with only three or four per 100,000 of the general population. Almost 100 industrial plants, including 45 petrochemical factories, eight coal-fired power plants, 12 chemical-fertiliser factories and two oil refineries, have been set up on the 7,000-rai Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate, which became operational in 1990.

The Industry Ministry has given the Industrial Works Department and the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand one month to draw up a plan to reverse environmental degradation that combines industrial/environmental standards and any remedial measures that can be taken to reverse this potentially devastating public-health disaster. The ministry, under the administration of Premier Surayud Chulanont, will have a tall order to fill, as it must clean up the environmental mess borne of years of neglect by previous governments.

It is an open secret that previous governments focused on promoting the petrochemical industry - considered vital to national development - and attracting investors to set up shop in Map Ta Phut at the expense of strict enforcement of industrial/environmental standards.

This is not the first time that problems at Map Ta Phut, especially the effects of industrial activity on public health, have become an issue. In 1997, hundreds of teachers and students at a Map Ta Phut school located near the industrial estate fell ill with respiratory problems, and many of them were hospitalised with acute conditions. Sulphur dioxide and volatile organic compounds emitted from factories on the estate were said to have been the cause of the sickness, and the school was relocated. But there was virtually no mention of any investigation to determine whether industrial plants in the area had exceeded their emission limits.

In 1998, the Environmental Quality Promotion Department found a high concentration of several cancer-causing volatile organic compounds, including benzene, in the atmosphere in and around Map Ta Phut. The latest study by the Pollution Control Department last October and November found as many as 40 volatile organic compounds in the air at Map Ta Phut, 20 of which were cancer-causing agents. Waterways were also found to have been contaminated with dangerous heavy metals, including cadmium, iron, led and manganese.

Environmentalists have long pointed out that government agencies charged with enforcement have tended to turn a blind eye to the violation of environmental laws and regulations governing emissions, discharge and waste management and allowed industrial-plant operators to exploit loopholes in order to cut costs and maximise profit. Critics also charge that these agencies fixate on ensuring that emissions and discharges from individual industrial plants remain within maximum allowable limits but pay little or no attention to the accumulation of such toxic gases in the atmosphere or dangerous waste materials in the waterways and soil. There is always the question of a possible conflict of interest. The Industry Ministry is playing a dual role as promoter of industrial activity and enforcer of industrial/environmental standards. Judging from the performances of past governments, achieving the right balance between the two roles proved to be an impossible task.

If the Surayud government actually wants to be seen as serious about solving the problem at Map Ta Phut, the Industry Ministry must engage other relevant agencies -including the Public Health Ministry and the National Resources and Environment Ministry's Pollution Control Department - in drawing up a plan of action. Close monitoring of Map Ta Phut should have been required long ago, in order to ensure that industrial activity and residents can coexist in safety.

Thailand News
The Nation Thailand
Friday January 26, 2007