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Published on February 15, 2008

The mining industry will be the first to be subjected to assessments.

"The HIA will likely become mandatory for the mining operators this year," Bureau of Occupational and Environmental Diseases director Kamjad Ramakul said yesterday.

Kamjad, speaking at a workshop on industrial operations' impacts on people's health, said the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning had been working on a health-assessment draft.

Transport and petrochemical industries are also among those to come under HIA conditions.

 Kamjad said the Disease Control Department would have direct responsibility for reviewing health impacts and send its comments to Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning, which has the duty to review environmental-impact assessments.

"The importance of people's health and economic growth is recognised," Kamjad said.

According to Kamjad, officials will check the health of people in a community where an industrial operation will start - and then follow up on their health in the long term.

He said the industrial impacts on people's health could not be ignored.

 A health survey by the Disease Control Department found a worrying level of benzene in the urine of people living near the Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate.

"Not all residents have this problem, but the disturbing level was detected in 15.8 per cent of the sample," Kamjad said.

The survey covered 2,177 people. High amounts of benzene are linked to the incidence of leukaemia.

Kasetsart University lecturer Dr Dechrat Sukkamnerd said that while Rayong residents had the highest average monthly income compared with people in other provinces, Rayong also had a high unemployment rate and the largest proportion of poor residents.

The Nation