Lynas rare earths refinery – worst decision ever?

MP SPEAKS Severe birth defects, eight leukemia cases over five years in a community of 11,000, tears and anguish of the poor people from a largely shoe-making community. These are not news headlines, nor the plot of a movie.

These are the consequences of carelessly allowing the Asian Rare Earth factory to be built in Bukit Merah, Perak, in 1982. When Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation started operating its rare earth factory, the villagers complained of choking sensation, pungent smell, coughs and colds.

The community also saw a sharp rise in infant deaths, congenital disease, leukemia and lead poisoning. While US$100 million is estimated to be the clean-up cost of the factory and dump site, the largest in the rare earth industry, it has not wiped out the memories and heartache of the villagers who lost their children and loved ones.

But 30 years later, the government has again allowed a rare earth factory to be set up, this time bu Australia’s Lynas Corporation in Gebeng, Kuantan. This means the government has waved the green flag with full knowledge of the possible consequences and deadly effects.

‘We never learn from tragedies’

The Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (Lamp) will produce 20,000 metric tonnes of radioactive waste, which is 10 times more than that produced by the Asian Rare Earth factory in Bukit Merah.

This is typical of the Malaysian government. It operates on the “we never learn from tragedies” mode – be it landslides, haze or the setting-up of a factory that can claim lives, lead to birth defects and see severe lead poisoning. This government simply does not care.

What makes me sick is the rhetoric of the ruling leaders who have jumped on the bandwagon to parrot Prime Mminister Najib Abdul Razak’s assurance that the factory is safe.

International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed said the ministry’s policy would be based on laws, policies and the decision of the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB).

It’s about time the learned minister acknowledges that the lives of millions of people cannot be based on procedures.

Exposure to radiation, immaterial of the levels, is unsafe. Both Lynas and the AELB say the exposure to radiation would be low. This cannot be accepted as radiation levels build up according to the volume of the wastes piled up.

Both Lynas and AELB have agreed that the rare earths factory would produce thorium, a waste by-product from the plant’s operations. And while they have stressed that thorium is low in radiation, the fact is that any prolonged exposure to radiation levels is hazardous.