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

[webfact]

 

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.

 

 

by Petch Petpailin

Photo via Facebook/ กรมควบคุมมลพิษ

 

Source: The Thaiger 2024-04-05

 

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[brianthainess]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

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.

Now they are very large bags indeed. How many were found outside, even if 'SOME' were outside say another 1,000 that's 7.5 tonnes a bag. Surely not a bad translation again, no couldn't be. 

[Peabody]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Approximately 1,000 bags were found inside the warehouse while some were outside.

 

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Since the cadmium waste is in a solid state and stored in a closed warehouse, it has not caused any environmental impacts.

OK, maybe a teensy bit.

[impulse]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Acting on a tip-off, the Thai authorities yesterday discovered 15,000 tonnes of cadmium in a warehouse

 

Judging by the photo, that looks more like a processing plant than a warehouse.

 

With cadmium at $4.1 USD per kg, 15,000 tons of pure cadmium would be worth about $61 million.  Obviously, smelting dust isn't pure cadmium, but I wonder what it's worth?

 

And I wonder what nefarious plans they have to monetize it.  Hopefully, there will be more scrutiny now that it's in the press.  The fact that they "found" 15,000 tons would indicate that there weren't any regulatory approvals.

 

[snoop1130]

Governor orders return of cadmium waste from Samut Sakhon to Tak within seven days

 

 

An initial inspection by the Pollution Control Department’s branch in Samut Sakhon province, where 15,000 tonnes of carcinogenic cadmium waste were being stored in smelting warehouses, has revealed that no people have been affected by the chemical so far, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Patcharawat Wongsuwan has said.

 

Officials from the department in Bangkok have been assigned to work with provincial officials to check for contamination inside the warehouses, as well as in the surrounding air and natural resources.

 

They are also tasked with informing the public about the dangers of the cadmium waste, the minister added.

 

Full story: Thai PBS 2024-04-05

 

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[hotchilli]

18 hours ago, webfact said:

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.

 

18 hours ago, webfact said:

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.

Anyone else spot this ?

[zyphodb]

29 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

 

Anyone else spot this ?

 

So, what they're actually saying is that 14000 tonnes were stored outside while 1000 tonnes inside? 555

[klauskunkel]

19 hours ago, webfact said:

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.

15,000 tons of Cadmium in a 1,000 bags inside and let's say (for simplicity's sake) 500 bags outside. 15,000 divided by 1,500 is: 10. One bag holds 10 tons of cadmium. Exactly how stupid does The Thaiger think its readership is?

 

Or considering this snippet from 2022:  Most commercial cadmium is obtained as a byproduct of zinc ore refining, though cadmium can also be recovered from recycled materials such as nickel-cadmium batteries and metal scrap. The United States is the world’s primary producer of cadmium, generating an estimated 1,100 tons of the metal per year. It would seem that "a company in Tak" has emerged as the one and only Cadmium Super Hub!

Edited April 6 by klauskunkel

[bluejets]

19 hours ago, webfact said:

No adverse health effects have been reported by residents thus far.

..............and they complain about the 2 cents worth contained in blue tip silver solder and ban it as a result.

[newbee2022]

20 hours ago, webfact said:

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.

That's a good example of acting as an ignorant imbecile.

Who cares, if people will die? It will not be him I reckon 👎

[spidermike007]

I have no idea if cadmium being stored like that is a health or environmental hazard however cadmium is known to be quite toxic. 

 

Epidemiological data suggest that occupational and environmental cadmium exposure may be related to various types of cancer, including breast, lung, prostate, nasopharynx, pancreas, and kidney cancers. It has been also demonstrated that environmental cadmium may be a risk factor for osteoporosis. The liver and kidneys are extremely sensitive to cadmium’s toxic effects.

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7312803/

[john donson]

so ready to be burned and give people miles arounds a nice dose of cancer