This week, the government seemed to get tough on another source of toxic haze: industrial activities. But what it is doing will not tackle the root cause of the problem which is the country's lax regulation of the industrial sector.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on Wednesday said his administration had ordered the temporary closure of about 600 "polluting" factories and that it will keep an eye on about 1,700 more identified as at risk of producing pollution following onsite inspections.
This is part of its temporary measures to tackle the hazardous PM2.5 -- particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometres in diametre -- which has blanketed Bangkok and other cities for more than a month. Apart from power plant emissions, PM2.5 is also caused by motor vehicles and bushfires.
Gen Prayut did not elaborate on whether those polluting factories were temporarily closed because of their failure to meet the current "dust emission standard" as defined in the 2006 regulation of the Industry Ministry, or because of other reasons. What he also omitted was the fact that such a standard has, in fact, nothing to do with PM2.5.
The regulation requires factories to monitor and report on their emissions of "dust" and other air pollutants into the air. It also sets maximum emission levels for them to follow. But the dust defined therein is not specifically PM2.5, but a reference to all types of dust in various sizes of up to 30 micrometres.
That means Thailand has never known how much PM2.5, which can cause adverse health effects on humans, has been emitted from more than 140,000 industrial plants throughout the country.
This soft regulation has been criticised by environmentalists who say the state has not created strict checks on the industry sector in order to attract investment and facilitate economic growth.
Given that the deadly smog, which has emerged and been reported on in recent years, has reached unsafe levels, there is a need for the state to come up with a tougher regulation, one that specifically sets a limit for PM2.5 emissions from industrial activities.
The new regulation should also make factories report on their emissions more regularly. Presently, the current regulation merely requires a factory to report merely twice a year.
As if the smog crisis is not worrying enough, this government has also sponsored a bill amending the Factory Act, aiming to loosen state regulations for the sake of facilitating economic growth.
Under the bill, the definition of a factory refers to businesses hiring at least 50 employees or more. The current factory law governs businesses hiring seven workers or more.
If the law is passed by the National Legislative Assembly (NLA), it will free more than 60,000 factories nationwide from the supervision and regulation of the Industry Ministry. They will just be subject to regulations of local government agencies, which are less strict when it comes to environmental impact prevention and mitigation.
It is obvious that the closure of 600 plants can be just a temporary measure. If the government is really concerned about the health and well-being of people, it must take a bold step to push for a new regulation that deals specifically with PM2.5 emissions.
The bill in its current form must also be dropped.
A large number of factories are located around the outskirts of Bangkok. Many others sit close to residential areas in other provinces. The government should not make people's health its second priority.