eco-logikal: Rare earth plant: Risks outweigh economic benefits

2011/03/13

S.M. MOHAMED IDRIS, President Consumers Association of Penang/Sahabat Alam Malaysia Penang
letters@nst.com

THE Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) and Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) are very concerned with the Pahang government's decision to go ahead with the proposed rare earth plant in Gebeng.

In 2007, SAM was invited by the Terengganu government to give a briefing on the dangers of rare earth and SAM's experience dealing with the exposure of radioactive waste in Bukit Merah, Perak. Following this, the project was rejected by the Terengganu government.

In the last three years, CAP and SAM have objected vehemently to the proposed rare earth plant because of the potential public health and environmental impacts of radioactive and hazardous waste that would be generated.

There has been no full public disclosure of this proposed project. A detailed environmental impact assessment was not required because of a loophole in our law.

Thus there was no avenue for the public to review the proposed mitigation measures and potential risks, and raise their objections.

The company has said that there will be low level exposure to radiation. This is alarming as there is no safe level or threshold of ionising radiation exposure.

Long-term, low-level (chronic) exposure to radiation is harmful because living tissues in the human body can be damaged by ionising radiation.

The exposure to radioactive waste can contribute to increased incidences of childhood leukaemia, cancer, miscarriages, impaired immune systems with abnormal low white blood cell counts and high lead levels among children, which would lead to lead poisoning.

Children are more vulnerable to the harmful effects of radiation than the general population because their bodies absorb and metabolise substances differently, and because they are more likely to develop certain cancers from such an exposure.

There is also a high possibility that children born to parents who have been exposed to radiation could be affected by the exposures, too. The other issue is that there is no known way to dispose of safely the waste which is generated from this plant.

Taking into account the seriousness of the risks involved in running such a plant, we urge the Pahang government to call off this project immediately.