Ms Anchalee said Nopmanee Company, the only tannery in the estate, had to fund the landfill project under the so-called polluter pays principle with advice from the IEAT and the Pollution Control Department. The landfill, she said, must be lined with materials which will prevent the dumped hides from contaminating underground water supplies. Dumping of the processed hide remnants in an open pit in Ban Pooluey in Tambon Makue Chae, Muang District has disturbed people in the neighbourhood because of the stench . Ms Anchalee said the open dump site would be put under observation while the landfill is being built to determine the extent of toxic contamination on the environment and human beings. Environmental science is complex Our environment is composed of millions of interacting elements and processes, so even the best scientists have difficulty determining what is really happening.
Disagreements are common, especially when they concern workplace safety.
According to the findings of a medical team under Dr Sonthaya Pruenglamphoo of the Public Health Ministry, AIDS was the cause of the deaths of eight workers and two babies. Two workers died of encephalitis and one each of tuberculosis and leukaemia . However, Dr Oraphan Mehadilokul, President of the Occupational and Environmental Medicine of Thailand, challenged the findings and the methods used. The findings were reached in an investigation which was conducted in the form of a seminar and with very limited information. There was no medical examination of the surviving workers or of the tissue of the dead.