Chapter 10 Persistent Toxic Substances in Thailand

Abstract

Abstract Thailand was one of the Asian countries that are very conservative wit h regard to the import, introduction and usage of any toxic chemical. The first ever known usage of such a chemical in Thailand was the application of DDT in the early 1950s followed by the chemicals like dieldrin, aldrin, endrin, toxaphene and BHC. The first official report on the import statistics of these chemicals was made only in 1971, even though the country has been busy tackling the occupational health and environmental problems systematically and at national level, even from the early 1960s. There were increases and decreases year by year from the 1950s until various chemicals were banned in different years starting from the ban of DDTs for agricultural use in the year 1983. Studies initiated by Thailand's National Environment Board found organochlorine and organotin compounds as the most common pollutants in the major rivers of Thailand followed by their detection in almost all the environmental and biotic media. In order to control the utilization of toxic substances for various purposes the “Toxic Substance Act of 1967” was first promulgated in Thailand in 1967 and the import, export, manufacture and possession of hazardous substances have been controlled under the Hazardous Substances Act 1992. Even beyond these Acts and several other control measures initiated by the Government of Thailand, the demand for agricultural productivity and the expansion of industry is now causing a rapid increase in the use of many chemicals in Thailand. As a result, wide spread contamination of several persistent chemicals were noticed in almost all the environmental and biotic matrices. Most recently, improved government policy has resulted in better control of chemical management. Even then, the present status of chemicals pollution in Thailand indicates that it may take several more years to reduce the levels of these chemicals considerably from the Thailand environment. Until then, a continuous survey for monitoring the present persistent organic pollutnats and several new chemicals that may come in to use in future is an absolute necessity.