BANGKOK: So far, a total of 19 workers have been admitted to Samut Sakhon Hospital to be treated for cadmium exposure, a senior Public Health Ministry official said.
Dr Kitti Kanpirom, an inspector for Public Health Area 5, told reporters that 19 workers from two Samut Sakhon factories, where smuggled cadmium waste was found, are being treated for cadmium and zinc exposure.
Eight workers were admitted to hospital on Thursday (April 4) after their urine samples showed high levels of cadmium and zinc, and another 11 were admitted on Monday morning for the same reason.
Dr Kitti added that the hospital will set up a special zone for treating workers exposed to these dangerous chemicals.
Breathing high levels of cadmium damages the lungs and can cause death. Cadmium can also cause cancer. Zinc exposure can cause gut irritation and gastrointestinal bleeding.
Public Health officials began checking urine samples of workers in two Samut Sakhon factories after several tonnes of buried cadmium waste was found to have been dug up and moved illegally from Tak.
People living near Tak’s Bound and Beyond Plc zinc smelting company, which ceased operating decades ago, alerted officials that the hazardous waste had been dug up. Upon checking, the officials found that 13,000 tonnes of cadmium waste had been moved from the burial ground, and tracked it to a factory in Samut Sakhon.
Upon only finding 2,500 tonnes of cadmium there, the officials went hunting for the remainder and found 6,000 tonnes in a factory in Chonburi’s Ban Bueng district on Saturday. They found another 1,000 tonnes in a second factory in Samut Sakhon on Sunday.
For fear that leakage of the chemicals will have a severe environmental impact, Samut Sakhon governor Phol Damtham has announced the two factories are completely off-limits to the general public.
Kitti said public health officials have been dispatched to take samples of food and water from houses near the two factories to see if there are any signs of contamination. - The Nation/ANN
