Excessive cadmium levels have been found in eight workers at a smelting factory in Samut Sakhon province, where mishandled cadmium waste was first discovered last week, as officials continue to check for contamination in two provinces.
Dr Kitti Kanpirom, a Public Health Ministry inspector-general, said on Monday that health officials conducted tests on 19 workers employed at the factory owned by J & B Metal Co in tambon Bang Nam Jued of Muang district.
Eight of them were found to have unsafe levels of cadmium, and they have now fallen ill, he said. The other 11 workers were also found to have cadmium in their systems, but none of them showed any symptoms of cadmium poisoning, Dr Kitti said.
All 19 were taken to Samut Sakhon Hospital for further examination and treatment on Monday.
Officials were also to collect food and water samples in the vicinity of the factory to test for cadmium contamination.
The Public Health Ministry's permanent secretary, Dr Opas Kankawinpong, said that blood and urine samples were also collected from workers at a warehouse where cadmium waste was found in Ban Bueng district of Chon Buri, and from 20 people living within a three kilometres radius of the warehouse.
One young child had chronic diarrhoea, he said. Results of tests on wastewater samples from the area would be known in one week, Dr Opas said.
Dr Woraya Lueang-on, a disease control director in Chon Buri, said cadmium contamination of the environment could cause acute and chronic headaches, exhaustion, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and irritation of the nose, throat and windpipe.
Health concerns have risen following the discovery of 8,474 tonnes of cadmium waste at factories and warehouses in Samut Sakhon and Chon Buri over the past several days.
According to the Pollution Control Department, the first 3,040 tonnes were found at the smelting factory in tambon Bang Nam Jued of Samut Sakhon's Muang district last Thursday.
Last Friday, a further 4,400 were discovered at a warehouse in tambon Khlong Kieo of Ban Bueng district of Chon Buri.
On Saturday, 1,034 tonnes were discovered at a warehouse in tambon Bang Nam Jued of Samut Sakhon's Muang district.
Officials believed they were part of a total of 13,832 tonnes of cadmium tailings illegally sold from a landfill in Tak province. They said 5,358 tonnes had yet to be tracked down.
So far, two suspects have been charged. One is a Chinese owner of the unregistered warehouse in Chon Buri, and another is a Taiwanese national who operates the warehouse where 1,034 tonnes of cadmium waste was found. The Taiwanese suspect said he got a commission for selling 5,000 tonnes of cadmium waste to the Chinese man, who paid about 41.2 million baht.