The Pollution Control Department's proposal for Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate to be declared an environmental control zone met on Thursday with strong opposition from the petrochemical companies located on the estate and the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand.

The National Environment Board decided to set up two committees. One would study the correlation between the mortality rate of people living near the industrial estate in Rayong and the pollution emitted from the factories in the estate.

The other would urge all factories in the estate to reduce the use of solvents in their industrial processes.

The IEAT objected to the department's proposal because it would ruin the reputation of Map Ta Phut and the country as well, a source said.

An area is designated a pollution-control zone when it has been proved to have reached the critical stage of pollution, the source said. Then it is forced to eliminate the sources of pollution. That would mean the IEAT could not go ahead with its phase III expansion for the petrochemical industry in Map Ta Phut as planned, she said.

The Pollution Control Department claimed it had concrete evidence showing that Map Ta Phut had bad air quality and created health problems for residents. To its proposal submitted to the National Environment Board on Thursday the department attached scientific studies, conducted by the National Cancer Institute from 1997-2001, that found that Map Ta Phut residents had three to five times more reported incidences of leukaemia than those living elsewhere.

The source admitted that the study did not link leukaemia with the petrochemical factories and refinery plants in Map Ta Phut, though the department was convinced that they were to blame because most of them used carcinogenic solvents.

The department also found that the concentration of sulphur dioxide emitted into the air from refineries was high. It only allows 780 micrograms/cubic metre/hour, but in December it found that sometimes the toxic gas reached 1,200.

"We're afraid that if nothing is done Map Ta Phut will soon repeat the Mae Moh tragedy," said the source, referring to the power plant in Lampang belonging to the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, where emissions of sulphur dioxide have caused severe respiratory problems in many residents.

If the two NEB committees cannot solve the problems, the department will again ask the National Environment Board to declare Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate an environmental-control zone, the source added.

Pennapa Hongthong,

Janjira Pongrai

The Nation