HEALTH / MAP TA PHUT INDUSTRIAL ESTATE

Study will examine increasing cancer rate

APINYA WIPATAYOTIN

The first comprehensive study into the relationship between cancer and toxic chemicals spewed by petrochemical plants at the Map Ta Phut industrial estate has finally been kick-started after decades of complaints from ailing villagers. Commissioned by the National Environment Committee, the study will focus on volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and their role in the increasing cancer rate among villagers living near the industrial estate.

Prinya Nutalai, head of the committee's investigating panel, said his team would also study the relationship between the chemicals and cancer prevalence in four other Rayong districts with industrial estates.

The study will continue until the panel obtains enough information to make a conclusion on the matter, which should take at least a year, he said.

However, the panel expects it will be able to come up with a safe level of VOC emissions within a month, Mr Prinya said.

The findings will be sent to the National Environment Committee, which should establish the proposed level as a national standard to control VOC emissions from factories, he said.

Although Public Health Ministry studies have shown that Rayong is a province with a high rate of cancer, the experts may be unable to identify VOCs as the culprit, said Mr Parinya.

''We only know for certain at the moment that high levels of VOCs have been detected around many industrial zones,'' he said.

Legal experts have also said that the lack of reliable evidence of a relationship between airborne chemicals and health ailments has prevented villagers around the industrial estates from filing lawsuits against polluters and pollution control agencies.

''If the investigators come up with concrete evidence linking villagers' illnesses to air pollution from the factories, many victims will definitely bring the matter to court,'' Mr Parinya said.

Panel member Nantawan Wichitwatakarn, of Thammasat University's allied health sciences faculty, said the team will first collect blood from more than 200 students living near the industrial estate to identify cancer-causing chemicals in their bodies. Health experts will also examine brain development among toddlers living near the industrial zones.

More than 70,000 Rayong villagers will be included in the study, he said.

Bangkok Post
Wednesday January 31, 2007