Tribal village ravaged by lead mine
is landmark case in Thai activism
By UAMDAO NOIKORN
Associated Press Writer
KLITY LANG, Thailand (AP)
Outward emotions are rare in this village. Grown-ups stare into nothing.
Children run around without a word or sit motionless. Some kids alternate
between breathless activity and deathlike lethargy.
As fictional as it sounds, the horrors of Klity Lang village are real,
unequivocal proof that havoc caused by human actions knows no ecological
boundaries.
Every one of Klity Lang's 221 inhabitants suffers from lead poisoning
by drinking water from the Klity Creek, which for years had been flooded with
wastewater discharged by a lead mining company upstream.
"The whole village is dying," says Yasoer Nasuansuwan, the deputy village
chief, who suffers from chronic fatigue and muscle pain.
Klity Lang has become Thailand's biggest test case for health officials and
environmental activists fighting to prevent pollution in a country where the
'polluters-pay-principle' is only just finding acceptance.
The mine and its ore cleaning plant, owned by Lead Concentrates (Thailand)
Co., were ordered closed by the government in 1998, the company was fined
2,000 baht (dlrs 44). In April, the company gave 1 million baht (dlrs
22,200) to the villagers in compensation, which activists and
victims dismiss as inadequate and an evasion of responsibility.
Recently, a voluntary group, the Karen Studies and Development Center,
announced that it has begun gathering evidence against the company for a
planned lawsuit. It says closing the mine was not enough and the company
should remove the polluted silt, which it had dredged from the creek and buried
right on the bank.
"Klity Lang's days are numbered unless action is taken immediately.
Years of poisoning is taking its toll on the villagers' genetics," said Surapong
Kongchantuk, director of the Karen Studies and Development Center.
All children born in the last six years have been mentally retarded. They have
stunted growth and suffer muscle coordination problems. Two girls were
born without vaginas while others have abnormally big heads.
"Never before have I seen such deformities," said Surapong, who has
worked with the Karen communities for over 20 years.
The Pollution Control Department found that the lead content in Klity
Creek was 10 times higher than the World Health Organization standards. It
said lead in the bloodstream of 39 children was found to be nearly twice
the level sufficient to cause permanent brain damage.
Take for instance Jothipai, a 13-year-old boy. He never cries, never talks,
knows no fear and cannot distinguish between heat and cold.
On good days Jothipai sits idly for hours. On bad days, he becomes so
hyperactive that his mother has to chain him for fear that he would injure himself
fatally. He had broken his leg several times from jumping off trees, Yasoer
said.
Adults have fared no better.Thirty-year-old Manumia
Thongpaphumcharerd says she started limping in 1993 and often found herself
dropping into a dream world.
"It was like everything was blurred and I was losing myself all the time,"
said the mother of five children, four of whom have motor skill problems.
Her father and younger brother are among the 23 people who have died in
the past eight years. Thirteen of the dead were children. Doctors said the
deaths were caused by kidney failure, the result of lead poisoning.
Even more shocking, environmentalists contend, was that
the mining company was polluting an area that is part of the Thung Yai
Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary, a United Nations World Heritage site known for
its superb flora and fauna.
State indifference to ecological concerns is the biggest hurdle for
environmental groups. One month after the National Environment Board
recommended terminating all mining activities in and around the sanctuary,
the Cabinet approved a lead mining plant project in another national park.
The campaign against Lead Concentrates also provides hope for
those fighting for the long-ignored rights of minority ethnic groups such as
the Karen tribe to which the Klity Lang people belong.
Klity Lang village was set up about 80 years ago when a group of Karens
moved into the area, 110 kilometers (68 miles) west of Bangkok. They lived off
the land and their cattle, with little contact with the outside world.
Even today, the villagers live in thatched-roof houses without
electricity. There is a school, but one teacher. Piped water was recently
provided after the creek's pollution. However, Klity Lang residents knew
how to live with nature.
Yasoer, the village assistant, said they began suspecting something was wrong
a decade ago when everybody started suffering from the same symptoms:
muscle and joint pain, fatigue, loss of appetite, chronic headaches, swelling
and blindness.
According the Mineral Resources Department, the mine and its ore
flotation plant had been in the area for more than 40 years.
The complex was ordered closed several times after complaints by
environmentalists. Each time, it promised to clean up its act. It even
constructed a water treatment system that was never used, an Environment
and Science Ministry report says.
In 1998, mine authorities released tons of untreated water, turning the
creek into a green, foul-smelling pool. The mine was ordered closed
indefinitely and an investigation began immediately.
But help for the villagers has been negligible. Surapong's voluntary group
and other officials blame this on the mine owner's political connections,
which for a long time prevented his company from being investigated. Calls
from The Associated Press to the mining company's office went unanswered.
The villagers have received medicines only once from a donation by
a philanthropist last October.
Relocation -- recommended by experts as the best solution -- is out of
the question, the villagers says.
"Our ancestors tried all other areas in the forest before deciding on this place.
We can't move," Yasoer said.
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