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Published on March 13, 2008

Twenty-two industries will very soon be required to conduct health impact assessment (HIA) to help policy-makers decide whether their development projects should go ahead.

The HIA, a study to gauge a project's potential effects on the health of the people and the distribution of those effects within the population, came into being last year when the new Constitution and the National Health Act were enacted.

Article 67 of the Constitution requires HIA along with environmental impact assessment (EIA), while Article 11 of the 2007 National Health Act allows people to ask for an HIA of a project if they are concerned about health impacts.

Soisuda Kaesornthong, of the Public Health Ministry's Occupational and Environmental Diseases Bureau, said that her office is now collaborating with the Office of Natural Resources and Environment Policy and Planning (ONEP)  to draft guidelines for the 22 industries - which include mining, power plants and transport projects - that are required by the 1992 Environment Protection Act to conduct EIA.

Soisuda said mining will be the first industry to have its own HIA guidelines. She and her team expect the guidelines to be ready by September.

In the future, more industries will be required to conduct the HIA.

While the OAEP and the Occupational and Environmental Diseases Bureau are busy drawing up HIA guidelines, the National Health Commission (NHC) is working on another aspect.

"We have to ensure the public has the right understanding and perception of HIA," Dr Wiput Phoolcharoen, head of the commission's HIA working team, said.

Wiput said he wants the public to realise that HIA can help prevent health hazards. At the end of the year, the NHC plans to host the Asia-Pacific Region conference on HIA aimed at sharing the experiences

of countries that have already enforced HIA. 

Though the commission is still in its infancy, Dr Amphon Jindawattana, acting secretary-general of the NHC, said it is helping people from Map Ta Phut district in Rayong gather public opinion on potential health impacts of the petrochemical industry.

However, those who have already suffered health problems following development projects have their own doubts.

Suthi Atchasai, secretary of the Network of Eastern People for the Environment, said he was afraid the HIA would give legitimacy to development projects.

"In principle it is a good thing to do, but I'm afraid that when implemented, HIA will help projects go ahead," he said.

Suthi, who has lived in Map Ta Phut, a community in the heart of Eastern Seaboard, where the petrochemical industry and coal-fired power plants have operated for decades, said HIA will protect public health only if projects found to endanger public health are cancelled.

"I'm afraid the same thing that happened with EIA will be repeated with the HIA. Once a project is deemed likely to have negative impacts, its project owner will propose mechanisms to reduce the impacts. And then the project will go right ahead and will have an impact on health," Suthi said.

Detcharat Sukkamnerd, of Kasetsart University's Faculty of Economy who has pushed for HIA for years, said he is afraid HIA will not function efficiently unless the process to conduct and approve EIA is improved and loopholes are closed.

Pennapa Hongthong

The Nation