Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2008. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bangkok Post - February 16, 2008
Apinya Wipatayotin
Drafted by experts from the Public Health and the Natural Resources and Environment ministries, the new regulation is expected to be enforced by the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (Onep) within this year.
Kamjad Ramakul, director of the Public Health Ministry's occupational and environmental diseases bureau, said the draft regulation covers 22 industries with the potential to harm human health.
"We are about to finish drawing up a regulation for the mining industry, which will be the first of the 22 industries required to conduct HIA studies," he said.
The list includes power plants, transport projects, hotels and other heavy industries.
The regulation would assure people living near industrial sites that their health would be well protected, Mr Kamjad told a two-day seminar on industry and health impact held in Rayong province.
Under the new rule, investors are required to come up with health protection measures, such as medical check-ups before and after industrial projects become operational.
Project developers must also run long-term monitoring schemes to detect potential health risks from industrial activity.
The current law on environmental impact assessment (EIA) requires project developers to look into the possible health impact from their projects, but it does not cover all industry-generated diseases.
Mr Kamjad, however, said the new regulation may not bring about a dramatic improvement in public health protection as hoped for.
It is the country's first regulation of this kind and therefore is unlikely to be as effective as those implemented in the United States or Europe, he added.
"We still have to find the balance between health protection and economic growth," he said.
The issue of industrial estates' adverse impact on human health came to light in recent years when people living near the Map Ta Phut industrial estate in Rayong province complained about severe health problems which they believed were caused by industrial pollution.
According to the Disease Control Department's survey released in August last year, around 42% of residents of tambon Map Kha who underwent health checks were found to have high levels of benzene in their body systems.
Dangerously high levels of other toxic substances, including toluene and styrene, also were detected in urine samples from some of the residents.
The study was conducted on 2,177 people from 25 communities around the Map Ta Phut industrial estate.
Mr Kamjad said people exposed to toxic substances could develop serious health problems such as respiratory diseases, brain damage and leukaemia.
Health statistics also showed that residents of Rayong, which is home to hundreds of factories, faced a high cancer risk.
Dechrat Sookkamnerd, manager of the Healthy Public Policy Foundation, said although industrial development had brought financial prosperity to Rayong, it also gave rise to a host of social and health problems.
His study showed that the suicide rate among young people in Rayong was as high as 299.61 per 100,000, compared to only 34.31 in Nakhon Pathom province, which is the country's major agricultural hub.
Rayong's HIV infection rate was also higher at 21.46 per 100,000 people, compared to 8.87 per 100,000 in Nakhon Pathom.
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