15,000 tonnes of cadmium found in Samur Sakhon, no health scares yet

Acting on a tip-off, the Thai authorities yesterday discovered 15,000 tonnes of cadmium in a warehouse in the Mueang district in the central province of Samut Sakhon. No adverse health effects have been reported by residents thus far.

The Industrial Commission of the Secretariat of The House of Representatives received a complaint alleging that a company in the northern province of Tak illegally sold cadmium and zinc waste to another company in the central province of Samut Sakhon.

These hazardous wastes were supposed to be disposed of in a cement pond according to an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) agreement.

Samut Sakhon Provincial Governor Phon Damtham and relevant departments raided the accused company that purchased the substances yesterday. They discovered 15,000 tonnes of cadmium waste packed in large bags. Approximately 1,000 bags were found inside the warehouse while some were outside.

The company employees revealed in the questioning that the company bought the chemical waste from the company in Tak as reported to authorities. That company performed zinc smelting causing cadmium waste.

According to the employees, it took three months to transport the cadmium waste from Tak to Samut Sakhon. The first batch arrived at the warehouse in August last year but the company had not yet melted or processed any of the substances.

Disaster zone

Governor Phon informed Thai PBS that he had not yet declared the warehouse and its surrounding area as a disaster zone but prohibited people from entering the area for 90 days. The ban would be lifted if the company in Tak retrieved the cadmium waste.

Phon insisted that no reports of affected people were found at this time. Since the cadmium waste is in a solid state and stored in a closed warehouse, it has not caused any environmental impacts.

The Natural Resources and Environmental Crime, also known as Greencop, will carry out further investigations into both companies, and the Pollution Control Department will collect samples from the site to further investigate the contamination.

Cadmium is a chemical element. It has the symbol Cd and atomic number 48. This soft, silvery-white metal is chemically similar to the two other stable metals in group 12, zinc and mercury.

Breathing high levels of cadmium damages people’s lungs and can cause death. Exposure to low levels of cadmium in air, food, water, and particularly in tobacco smoke over time may build up cadmium in the kidneys and cause kidney disease and fragile bones. Cadmium is considered a cancer-causing agent.