Cadmium case tests environmental justice
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Cadmium case tests environmental justice

A decision by the National Environment Board (NEB) not to appeal a Phitsanulok Administrative Court order _which called for three tambons in Tak province to be declared environmental protection zones because of cadmium contamination _ looks to be a victory for environmental responsibility in Thailand. On closer inspection, however, it's clear there is probably a long way to go before the residents of tambons Prathad Pha Daeng, Mae Tao and Mae Ku in Mae Sot district _ which have been affected by cadmium contamination _ get the compensation and cleanup they are asking for and have every right to expect.

The court order, issued on Aug 13, was in response to demands made by locals in a lawsuit lodged in December 2009 which also included the establishment of a 100 million baht health fund in each tambon and compensation of 15,000 baht a rai for damage caused to their farmland from cadmium contamination. The NEB is one of six defendants, which also include the Pollution Control Committee and the Department of Primary Industries and Mines. What is lacking so far in the legal process is an attempt to answer the all-important question of who is responsible for the cadmium contamination in the first place. That may be coming in a court ruling on a similar case scheduled for late this month.

The villagers point the blame for the high cadmium levels squarely on zinc mining operations in the area. A 2006 National Human Rights Commission report backs them up. The NHRC said Padaeng Industries' zinc mining operations had been discharging toxic substances into natural streams, leading to heavy metal contamination in the environment and cadmium poisoning among villagers. ''The cadmium contamination in the rice fields and natural streams did not happen naturally as state agencies and the company have claimed, but was caused by the company's mining operation,'' the report said. The NHRC also said the Mines Department was negligent in failing to get the private company to implement more environmental impact mitigation measures.

A company spokesman dismissed the report and said its mining operations had nothing to do with the cadmium contamination or the villagers. ''We have not violated any state guidelines concerning mining operations or environmental impact mitigation measures,'' the company spokesman said. ''We also run a wastewater treatment facility as required.''

Government agencies have tended to support the company's line.

Cadmium, commonly found alongside zinc deposits, is a toxic heavy metal with no known biological function. It is a neuro-toxin that inhibits the formation of many enzymes and can be passed to an unborn child. Like mercury, it is toxic to every body system, but is considered even more toxic than mercury.

Cadmium contamination was detected in the three tambons in early 2004 by foreign scientists from the International Water Management Institute, which found that several hundred villagers in the tambons had elevated levels of cadmium in their blood, suspected to have come from eating cadmium-contaminated rice. The government has now banned rice cultivation in the area, placing an economic hardship on the locals.

A 2009 report by researchers from the Department of Biology, Mahidol University, investigated levels of both cadmium and zinc in areas close to the mine. The report's abstract says: ''Significant cadmium contamination in soil and rice has been discovered in Mae Sot, Tak province, Thailand, where rice-based agricultural systems are established in the vicinity of a zinc mine.''

Another uncertainty is what sort of measures would be implemented following the declaration of the environmental protection zones, as authorised under the 1992 Environmental Promotion and Preservation Act.

Under the act, an environmental protection zone is an area with high ecological value or one with severe environmental problems that needs urgent rehabilitation. The situation in Tak falls under the latter category.

The NEB has asked for an extension of the deadline to impose the zones, which comes 30 days after the Aug 14 ruling. Sunee Piyapanpong, the deputy director-general of the Pollution Control Department, said declaring an environmental protection zone was a lengthy process that included public hearings.

Fair enough, but one wonders why the NEB would consider an appeal of the court ruling in the first place, as the evidence of severe cadmium contamination in the three tambons is overwhelming. The NEB was created to address and find remediation solutions in such situations, not to hinder solutions.

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