Thailand seeks U.S. responsibility on toxic waste

Asian Economic News, June 7, 1999

BANGKOK, June 4 Kyodo

Thailand has urged the United States to take responsibility for a chemical substance found buried beneath an airport since March after two Thai agencies confirmed it was Agent Orange defoliant used by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War, an official said Friday. Analysis indicated the substance buried under the taxiway of Bor Fai airport in the southern resort of Hua Hin contains derivatives of 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetate and 2,4,5-Trichlorophenoryacetate -- two substances used in Agent Orange, said Saksit Tridech, director general of the Pollution Control Department.

Agent Orange was used during the war to wipe out trees and forests to prevent them being used for cover by Vietnamese fighters.

The Department of Medical Science, under the Public Health Ministry, confirmed a soil sample from the airport showed the presence of the two substances -- both of which cause cancer.

Furthermore, the latest analysis Tuesday found that an airport soil sample contained cancer-causing dioxins, Saksit said, noting that dioxin was an impurity in Agent Orange.

"We have already informed the U.S. and need their help to dispose of all chemical substances at the airport," he said.

The U.S. Embassy in Bangkok declined to comment on the Thai analysis results, saying it was better to wait for chemical analysis by its Environmental Protection Agency, which collected soil samples recently to test in the U.S.

The U.S. military conducted research and experiments on defoliants between 1964 and 1965 in the southern province of Prachuabkhirikhan where the airport is located, according to the Pollution Control Department, an agency under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment.

The U.S. used the Hua Hin airport as a base for flying to conduct deforestation in an experimental area in the Pranburi district of the province, the department said.

The U.S. has never admitted burying the chemical substance at the airport, the department said.

The chemical was first found during construction work to expand the runway of the airport in March. More than 100 people nearby suffered ill effects from the toxic agent.