The Nation
Jan 1996
JAMES FAHN
A senior official from the Pollution Control Department yesterday
confirmed that mercury levels are rising in the waters off Mab Ta Phud
Industrial Estate in Rayong province.
Minister of Industry Chaiwat
Sinsuwong, however, has refused to
reveal information on possible fish contamination in the Gulf of
Thailand.
``We have been watching with concern
an increase in the mercury
levels in theGulf of Thailand off Mab Ta Phud over the last year,' said
Sirithan Pairojboriboon, the PCD's deputy director-general.
``The level is still under the
limit,' he said, ``but we are
worried about the increasing rate.'
Coastal water quality tests around
Mab Ta Phud last year found
average mercury levels of 0.09 microgrammes per litre (ug/l), according
to Sirithan, just under the standard of 0.1 ug/l.
The highest level found was 0.33
ug/l, said another PCD
official. It was recorded in January in the waters south of the
industrial port.
In 1994, the average mercury level
found in the waters around
Mab Ta Phud wasapproximately 0.07 ug/l, said Sirithan.
Kasemsri Homchean, director of the
Industrial Estate of
Thailand's environment division, said she has yet to receive any
information from the PCD about the matter.
Researchers carrying out an
environmental impact assessment for
the proposed expansion of the industrial port have also found
significant levels of mercury and cyanide in the sediment off Mab Ta
Phud.
Mercury is a dangerous neurotoxin
that builds up in the food
chain, attacking the central nervous system of people who eat too much
contaminated food. It is used by many industries and is known to be
present in the natural gas found under the Gulf of Thailand.
According to Dr Piamsak Menasveta, a
marine scientist from
Chulalongkorn University, increasing mercury levels are also being found
in the fish around Unocal's natural gas platforms in the central Gulf of
Thailand. However, officials from the Fisheries Department, the
Department of Mineral Resources and Unocal have so far refused to reveal
any detailed information.
Asked by The Nation whether he would
release the information to
the public, Industry Minister Chaiwat said he has already stated his
views on the matter and would not speak of it anymore.
Sirithan added that the mercury
levels off Mab Ta Phud are
higher than those off Laem Chabang Industrial Estate in Chon Buri. Past
studies in 1989-90 which showed exceptionally high levels of mercury off
the two industrial zones may have taken too few samples, he said.
Sirithan explained that at first the
PCD thought there might be
a lab error with the current Mab Ta Phud results. But after checking the
tests many times, the agency is convinced that mercury levels are indeed
rising.
``We have done a survey of possible
land-based sources for the
pollution - there are many such industries in Mab Ta Phud industrial
estate - but we can't find where the mercury is coming from,' Sirithan
said.
``So now we are looking into whether
there is illegal dumping or
run-off of toxic wastes,' he added.
Sirithan said his agency has no
information on mercury levels in
the fish, as the PCD's labs can't analyze tissue simples.
The PCD will attempt to check
mercury levels in aquaculture
products instead, he said, as there are few fish left in the gulf for
the fishing industry to catch.