VietNamNet Bridge – Chemicals production units have been compared with the “silent killer.” However, relevant units still have not paid appropriate attention to control the production and protect the environment from the killer.

The Chemicals Act, effective since 2008, stipulates that the institutions and individuals using chemicals must build up the plan to predict the risks and prepare to fix the problems in case incidents occur.  The Decree No. 26 stipulates that the owners of the institutions that use chemicals will be imposed the fine of VND40 million if they do not have the required plans.

Risks high because of loosened management

According to Nguyen Kim Lien, a senior official of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, no enterprise or individual have been punished so far; though a ministry’s survey found out that 50 percent of enterprises don’t have equipments and tools to handle with incidents, if they occur.

Only 60 percent of surveyed enterprises had the managers who had awareness of the importance of following the regulations on chemical use safety. Especially, a lot of enterprises did not have updated information about the legal documents on the issue.

Only after the chemical incident at the Hai Phong Thermopower Plant in 2010 which killed 3 and caused the environment pollution, did the watchdog agency find that the importer of the chemical materials did not report to the competent agencies. The importer also did not have the plan to cope with incidents.

Recently, an explosion occurred in February 2013 at the house of Le Minh Phuoc, Director of Lac Viet Company in HCM City, killing 10 people. Phuong has been found as keeping a big amount of chemicals at his home, but no competent agency knew about this.

A lot of chemical production units or industrial production workshops are located in residential quarters, which would cause immeasurable consequences in case of accidents. However, competent agencies and chemical users remain reckless of the danger. No regulations about the minimum required distance between chemical workshops and people’s houses have been set up.

A report of the HCM City Department of Natural Resources and the Environment showed that in 2005-2013 alone, 16 cases of oil spill (DO and FO) the city, mostly at e estuaries.

In most of cases (62 percent), the oil slick caused by the vehicle collusion, ship sinking or pipe breaking.

PCB, a relative of dioxin

According to Do Thanh Bai from the Vietnam Industrial Chemicals Institute, PCB has been used mostly in electrical equipments, paint, printing ink and recycled rubber.

The toxicity from PCB can cause skin deformation, endocrine and fertility problems and speed up the development of cancer. PCB is believed to have the structure and effects similar to dioxins.

The General Environment Directorate has found from its survey that of the 105 enterprises using PCB-containing equipments, the PCB concentration was found higher than 5ppm at 33 enterprises. Of these, four enterprises had the PCB concentration at between 50-500 ppm, much higher than the allowed level of 5 ppm.

About 10,000-20,000 tons of oil containing PCB in old transformers has been kept at the Dong Nai Power Company, the Pha Lai Hydropower Company and the Cai Lan Port

In HCM City, the Saigon Water Supply Company was found as keeping 30,000 liters of transformer oil with PCB, which has polluted the surrounding area.

Thien Nhien