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S64 J Med Assoc Thai Vol. 96 Suppl. 5 2013
Health Effects of People Living Close to a Petrochemical
Industrial Estate in Thailand
Pornpimol Kongtip PhD*,
Panawadee Singkaew MS*, Witaya Yoosook PhD*,
Suttinun Chantanakul MD*, Dusit Sujiratat MSc**
* Department of Occupational Health and Safety, Faculty of Public Health, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
** Department of Biostatistics, Faculty of Public Health, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
Objective: An acute health effect of people living near the petrochemical industrial estate in Thailand was assessed using a
panel study design.
Material and Method: The populations in communities near the petrochemical industrial estates were recruited. The daily air
pollutant concentrations, daily percentage of respiratory and other health symptoms reported were collected for 63 days. The
effect of air pollutants to reported symptoms of people were estimated by adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence interval
using binary logistic regression.
Results: The significant associations were found with the adjusted odds ratios of 38.01 for wheezing, 18.63 for shortness of
breath, 4.30 for eye irritation and 3.58 for dizziness for total volatile organic compounds (Total VOCs). The adjusted odds
ratio for carbon monoxide (CO
2
) was 7.71 for cough, 4.55 for eye irritation and 3.53 for weakness and the adjusted odds ratio
for ozone (O
3
) was 1.02 for nose congestion, sore throat and 1.05 for phlegm.
Conclusion: The results showed that the people living near petrochemical industrial estate had acute adverse health effects,
shortness of breath, eye irritation, dizziness, cough, nose congestion, sore throat, phlegm and weakness from exposure to
industrial air pollutants.
Keywords: Industrial air pollutants, Health effects, Petrochemical industrial estate
Correspondence to:
Kongtip P, Department of Occupational Health and Safety,
Faculty of Public Health, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10400,
Thailand.
Phone: 0-2644-4069, Fax: 0-2354-8561
E-mail: phpkt@mahidol.ac.th
J Med Assoc Thai 2013; 96 (Suppl. 5): S64-S72
Full text. e-Journal: http://www.jmatonline.com
Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate is located
in the municipality of Map Ta Phut, Mueng, Rayong.
The question was asked whether industries and
communities can live together
(1)
. The industrial estate
has fifty-eight production industries, including gas
separation facilities, an oil refinery, petrochemical,
chemical, and steel production, fertilizer industries, and
power plants
(2)
. In 1997, 120 students at a school located
in the northeastern area of Map Ta Phut Industrial
Estate complained of nuisance odors. Some students
developed dizziness, sinusitis, sore throat and
fatigue
(3)
. In 1999, the Thailand Environment Institute
(TEI) surveyed and collected data from the industries
located within Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate and found
that volatile organic compounds (VOCs), primarily
released from fuel combustion, incinerators, industries
and storage tanks pervaded the surrounding
atmosphere
(4)
. The Pollution Control Department
(PCD), Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment,
reported 34 VOCs monitoring of the ambient air from
September 2006 to June 2010 and found that levels of 1,
3-butadiene, 1, 2-dichloroethane and benzene at
the Map Ta Phut primary care unit were higher than
the Thai annual standard
(5)
. The health effects of
petrochemical industry were mainly concentrated on
respiratory symptoms in young children
(6,7)
. Molhave
et al (1986) studied sixty-two healthy volunteers
exposed to a mixture of twenty-two VOCs at three
concentration levels of 0, 5 and 25 mg/m
3
for 2.75
hours
(8)
. The increased irritation of eyes, nose, and
throat had a significant correlation with exposure to
both concentrations of 5 and 25 mg/m
3
. Yang et al
(1997) looked at the residents of a petrochemical
polluted town in Taiwan and reported that the
complaints of eye and throat irritation, nausea were
markedly higher in those areas of the town which
experienced increased VOC levels
(9)
. The effects of the
J Med Assoc Thai Vol. 96 Suppl. 5 2013 S65
Fig. 1 The studied area showing Soi Ruam Pattana and
Wat So Phon communities, the ambient air
monitoring station at Map Ta Phut health center,
and Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate.
ambient air pollution on general population caused
complaints; people do not need to consult with medical
doctors. The effects of ambient air pollution to people’s
health are not properly investigated particularly in
developing countries
(10)
.
This research aimed to study the effects of
petrochemical air pollutants around Map Ta Phut
Industrial Estate including PM
10
(Particulate matter),
CO (Carbon monoxide), total VOCs (Volatile Organic
Compounds), O
3
(Ozone), NO
2
(Nitrogen dioxide) and
SO
2
(Sulfur dioxide) upon the local population
living near the estate. The study identified adverse
health effects, primarily respiratory symptoms, and other
health symptoms suffered by the population living in
this area.
Material and Method
A panel study of the population living close
to the petrochemical industries was conducted to
evaluate daily respiratory symptoms and other health
symptoms in relation to the daily concentrations of
petrochemical air pollutants for a 63-day study period.
The present study was reviewed and approved by the
Ethics Committee on Human Rights Related to Human
Experimentation, Mahidol University, No. MUPH 2009-
079.
Study area
The studied area comprised the Soi Ruam
Pattana and Wat So Phon communities, Map Ta Phut,
Muang, Rayong. They are located approximately two
kilometers to the northeast of Map Ta Phut Industrial
Estate (Fig. 1). The two communities were close to the
industrial estate. The wind direction blows from the
north into the area from October to December and the
wind direction comes from the south to the area in
February-April. In June to September, the wind from
the southwest will flow into the area in community
(11)
.
The people in the community are exposed to volatile
chemicals from the wind direction from the south and
the southwest from February to April and June to
September, respectively. The effects of land breeze and
sea breeze also affect the wind direction at Map Ta
Phut. Some small mountains situated along the shores
in the gulf of Thailand prevent the land breeze to
blow the VOC emission from the Map Ta Phut industrial
estate into the sea.
An air monitoring station of the Pollution
Control Department (PCD), Ministry of Natural
Resources and Environment, is located at Map Ta Phut
primary care unit in the Wat So Phon community. They
are densely populated areas having residences close
to industrial areas.
Study population and sample group
The population in Soi Ruam Pattana and Wat
So Phon communities is approximately 3,600. Most
residents worked and had business with the industries
in the estate. The inclusion of subjects was carried out
with the help of community leaders. A purposive
sampling was used to recruit subjects using a screening
questionnaire to identify subjects conforming to the
following criteria: (1) males and females working and
living in the community, (2) age range from 18 to 60
years old, (3) do not work in the industries, (4) are
not currently suffering from asthma, tuberculosis, or
chronic bronchitis and (5) are pleased to participate
in the present study for 63 days with written
informed consent. Approximately 150 subjects were
screened and, finally, 111 subjects conformed to the
present study criteria and voluntarily participated in
the present study.
Air pollutants monitoring
The air pollutants were identified as, PM
10
,
NO
2
, O
3
, CO, VOCs and SO
2
. Meteorological conditions
were monitored daily for the 63-day study period at the
air monitoring station of the PCD at Map Ta Phut
primary care unit. Monitoring began on the 20
th
December 2009 and concluded on the 20
th
February
2010. The air pollutants were collected on a daily basis
at the primary care unit in the community area
throughout the present study period.
S66 J Med Assoc Thai Vol. 96 Suppl. 5 2013
Symptoms
The subjects were interviewed by the
researcher and trained staff daily, using a slightly
modified questionnaire (ATS-DLD-78-Adult
Questionnaire)
(12)
consisting of general characteristics,
and a daily symptom diary during the 63-day study
period. The trained staff were high school students
living in the community and they were familiar with
those subjects. Each trained staff was responsible
for collecting information for 15-20 subjects throughout
the present study period. They had to explain the
different health symptoms in the diary to each subject
during the first few days of the interview, and tried
to confirm with the subjects when they reported any
symptoms. The daily symptom diary consisted of
twelve symptoms which could be categorized into
respiratory symptoms (i.e. nose congestion, sore throat,
cough, phlegm, wheeze and chest tightness) and other
health symptoms (i.e. headache, shortness of breath,
fever, eye irritation, dizziness and weakness). The
interviewers asked about symptoms on the previous
day. The percentage of daily reported symptoms was
calculated
(13)
. If the interviewers did not meet with the
subjects on the day of the interview, they would ask
the subjects on the next day and report to the daily
symptom diary.
Data analysis
The arithmetic and geometric means,
median, range and interquartile range (IQR) were used
for descriptive statistics. The arithmetic, geometric
mean and median (50% percentile) were presented due
to the skewed data. The adjusted odds ratios and 95%
confidence interval were calculated using binary logistic
regression. The assumption of the analysis was that all
these pollutants namely, total VOCs, NO
2
, O
3
,
CO and
PM
10
had effects on the health symptoms of people in
the communities. To avoid multi-collinearity, all air
pollutants could not be put into one model because
NO
2
and O
3
were theoretically correlated between
them
(14,15)
. Therefore, the effects of NO
2
and O
3
need to
be analyzed separately into two models.
Two models of analysis were used to quantify
the effects of the multiple air pollutants, total VOCs,
CO, NO
2
, O
3
and PM
10
for 63-d study period. The first
model estimated the effects of total VOCs, CO, and O
3
by controlling for gender, age, working duration (h)
and PM
10
. The second model calculated the effect of
multiple pollutants using total VOCs, CO and NO
2
by
adjusting for gender, age, working duration (h) and
PM
10
.
General characteristics Number %
of subjects
(n = 111)
Sex
Male 37 33.3
Female 74 66.7
Age
18-19 1 0.9
20-29 16 14.4
30-39 39 35.1
40-49 30 27.0
50-60 25 22.5
Education
Uneducated 6 5.4
Primary school 46 41.4
Secondary school 12 10.8
High school 12 10.8
High and vocational schools 17 15.3
Bachelor’s degree 16 14.4
Master degree 2 1.8
Occupation
Merchant 45 40.5
Housewife 8 7.2
General employee 30 27
Student 5 4.5
Hairdresser 5 4.5
Self employed 11 9.9
Others 7 6.4
Working duration
<8 hrs 39 35.1
8.1-12.0 hrs 49 44.1
>12.1 23 20.7
Smoking
Yes 18 16.2
No 91 82.0
Ex-smoker 2 1.8
Total 111 100.0
Table 1. Characteristics of subjects
Results
Characteristics of subjects
One hundred eleven subjects participated in
this study; most of them had age ranging from 30 to 39
years old. Most of them (46.8%) had a primary school
level or lower, 10.8% had secondary school levels and
10.8% had high school levels of education (Table 1).
Most subjects worked as merchants (40.5%) and
general employees (27%). No subjects worked in
the industries; they worked for 8-12 hours in the
communities. Approximately 16% admitted to smoking
cigarettes. The subjects were asked about annual
physical check-up, fifty-one percent had an annual
J Med Assoc Thai Vol. 96 Suppl. 5 2013 S67
Air pollutants Day Mean** Median Range IQR 1-hr standard*
(14-15)
AM GM
PM
10
(μg/m
3
) 63 62.05 59.46 55.33 37.75-140.29 48.29-74.92 120 μg/m
3
(24-hr)
CO (ppm) 63 0.51 0.46 0.49 0.12-1.14 0.34-0.68 30 ppm
Total VOCs (ppm) 63 2.30 2.29 2.27 1.97-2.98 2.12-2.45 -
O
3
(ppb) 63 27.11 25.79 26.43 11.70-49.96 20.78-32.13 100 ppb
NO
2
(ppb) 63 14.53 13.35 13.35 5.30-30.30 9.39-19.35 170 ppb
SO
2
(ppb) 63 5.99 5.03 5.55 1.17-15.04 2.82-8.57 300 ppb
* Thai ambient air standard
** AM = arithmetic mean; GM = geometric mean
Table 2. Descriptive statistics for 1-hr average air pollutant concentrations at Map Ta Phut health center, Mueng, Rayong
Symptoms Mean Median SD Range IQR
Headache 3.77 3.60 3.16 0-11.70 0.90-5.40
Nose congestion 2.76 2.70 1.77 0-6.30 0.90-3.60
Sore throat 2.70 2.70 1.96 0-7.20 0.90-3.60
Cough 4.08 3.60 2.66 0-15.30 1.80-5.50
Phlegm 2.78 2.00 2.47 0-12.60 0.90-4.50
Wheeze 0.62 0.00 0.93 0-4.50 0-0.90
Chest tightness 0.46 0.00 0.68 0-2.70 0-0.90
Shortness of breath 0.63 0.00 1.00 0-3.60 0-0.90
Eye irritation 1.83 0.90 2.29 0-11.70 0-2.70
Dizziness 2.42 1.80 2.48 0-9.00 0-4.50
Weakness 2.66 1.80 2.71 0-13.50 0.90-3.60
Table 3. The percentage (%) of the daily reported symptoms of subjects (111)
physical check-up and 10% of subjects reported that
they had diseases, such as high blood pressure, cancer,
high cholesterol and diabetes.
Air pollutants monitoring
The daily 1-hr air pollutants monitored were
PM
10
, SO
2
, NO
2
, O
3
, VOCs and CO during the 63-d study
period (Table 2). The arithmetic, geometric means and
median (50% percentile) were presented due to the
skewed data. The geometric means were used for
comparisons with other studies. Most PM
10
levels were
below the Thai standard (120 μg/m
3
)
(16)
except for the
PM
10
level being 140 μg/m
3
on the 24
th
of December,
2010 due to the construction sites in the area. The total
VOCs in the communities were monitored because
the VOCs may be the cause of health symptoms in
people in the communities nearby the petrochemical
industries
(4)
. The 1-hr ambient air quality standard was
not available for total VOCs. The CO, O
3
, NO
2
and SO
2
levels were all below the national standard
(16,17)
. The
temperature in the communities ranged from 21.4 to
32.7°C with an average temperature of 27.7°C. The
relative humidity ranged from 33 to 87% with an average
of 68.8%.
Daily symptom frequencies reported
The average daily percentages of subjects
reporting symptoms are shown in Table 3. The median
(50 percentile) was presented because the data were
not normally distributed. The most often reported
symptoms were coughing, headache, phlegm, nose
congestion, sore throat, and weakness. The least often
reported symptoms were chest tightness, wheezing and
shortness of breath.
Quantification of effects of air pollutants
The present study investigated twelve
respiratory and health symptoms most likely caused
by industrial air pollutants, PM
10
, NO
2
, O
3
, CO and
VOCs. Binary logistic regression was used to quantify
the effects of multiple industrial air pollutants. The
adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence interval was
S68 J Med Assoc Thai Vol. 96 Suppl. 5 2013
Symptoms CO Total VOCs NO
2
OR (95%CI) OR (95%CI) OR (95%CI)
Headache 4.01 (1.47-10.94)* 1.98 (0.54-7.29) 1.00 (0.93-1.06)
Nose congestion 2.34 (0.71-7.70) 0.53 (0.11-2.63) 1.05 (0.97-1.13)
Sore throat 1.86 (0.56-6.20) 0.59 (0.12-2.94) 1.07 (0.99-1.15)
Cough 6.23 (2.27-17.07)* 0.43 (0.11-1.731) 1.06 (0.99-1.12)
Phlegm 7.97 (2.50-25.48)* 0.81 (0.17-3.90) 1.00 (0.93-1.08)
Wheeze 0.64 (0.05-9.22) 0.22 (0.01-7.65) 1.16 (0.98-1.37)
Chest tightness 4.98 (0.33-75.17) 5.54 (0.17-176.81) 1.10 (0.93-1.29)
Shortness of breath 4.12 (0.04-41.30) 1.89 (0.98-1.03) 0.98 (0.84-1.14)
Eye irritation 4.91 (1.19-20.28)* 15.92 (2.69-94.14)* 0.98 (0.90-1.07)
Dizziness 3.09 (0.87-10.98) 1.74 (0.33-9.27) 1.06 (0.98-1.15)
Weakness 1.38 (0.40-7.74) 0.65 (0.13-3.28) 1.11 (1.03-1.20)*
* significant at p<0.05
Table 5. The adjusted odds ratio with 95% confidence interval (CI) was estimated for multiple air pollutants, PM
10
, CO,
total VOCs and NO
2
on a series of daily reported symptoms (Model 2). The results are controlled for gender, age,
working duration (hr) and PM
10
estimated for multiple air pollutants, O
3
, CO and total
VOCs based on a series of daily reported symptoms
(Model 1) by controlling for gender, age, working
duration (h) and PM
10
(Table 4). When the level of CO
is increased 1 ppm, the adjusted odds ratios increase
3.53 for headache, 7.71 for cough, 4.55 for eye irritation
and 3.53 for weakness. In addition, when the level of
total VOCs is increased by 1 ppm, the adjusted odds
ratios for developing symptoms increase 38.01 for
wheezing, 18.63 for shortness of breath, 4.30 for eye
irritation and 3.58 for dizziness. Furthermore, with an
increase of 1 ppb O
3
, the adjusted odds ratio for reported
nose congestion, sore throat, phlegm and shortness of
breath increases by 1.02, 102, 1.05 and 1.02, respectively.
The second model presented the effects of multiple
industrial air pollutants, NO
2
, CO and total VOCs based
on a series of daily reported symptoms by controlling
for gender, age, working duration (h) and PM
10
(Table
5). The adjusted odds ratios of reported symptoms
increase to 4.01 for headache, 6.23 for coughing, 7.97
for phlegm and 4.91 for eye irritation with an increase
of 1 ppm CO. When total hydrocarbons are increased
by 1 ppm, the adjusted odds ratios increase 15.92 for
eye irritation. In addition, the adjusted odds ratio
Symptoms CO Total VOCs O
3
OR (95%CI) OR (95%CI) OR (95%CI)
Headache 3.53 (1.39-8.96)* 2.29 (0.81-6.42) 1.010 (0.20-1.03)
Nose congestion 2.61 (0.88-7.77) 1.66 (0.47-5.85) 1.020 (1.00-1.04)*
Sore throat 2.15 (0.72-6.41) 2.47 (0.71-8.63) 1.020 (1.00-1.04)*
Cough 7.71 (2.57-23.14)* 0.83 (0.23-2.98) 1.000 (0.98-1.02)
Phlegm 1.11 (0.11-11.02) 4.66 (0.36-60.39) 1.050 (1.00-1.09)*
Wheeze 6.73 (0.57-79.45) 38.01 (2.65-546.12)* 1.030 (0.99-1.07)
Chest tightness 2.69 (0.32-22.70) 2.38 (0.24-24.16) 1.025 (0.99-1.07)
Shortness of breath 3.40 (0.91-12.68) 18.63 (4.45-78.00)* 1.020 (1.00-1.05)*
Eye irritation 4.55 (1.41-14.65)* 4.30 (1.14-16.26)* 1.000 (0.98-1.02)
Dizziness 2.52 (0.83-7.63) 3.58 (1.04-12.35)* 1.010 (0.99-1.03)
Weakness 3.53 (1.39-8.96)* 2.29 (0.81-6.42) 1.010 (0.20-1.03)
Table 4. The adjusted odds ratio with 95% confidence interval (CI) was estimated for multiple air pollutants, PM
10
, CO ,
total VOCs and O
3
on a series of daily reported symptoms (Model 1). The results are controlled for gender, age,
working duration (hr) and PM
10
* significant at p<0.05
J Med Assoc Thai Vol. 96 Suppl. 5 2013 S69
increases 1.11 for weakness with an increase of 1 ppb
NO
2
.
Discussion
Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate was established
in 1988 following the government policy to be the
biggest petrochemical complex in Thailand
(18)
.
Currently, Map Ta Phut produces substantial amounts
of petrochemicals, chemical products, steel and oil
refineries. As the rapid development and expansion of
Map Ta Phut went on, the impact upon people’s health
also increased, including problems with air quality,
water, quality of life, etc. Finally, the government
declared Map Ta Phut and the nearby areas as pollutant
control areas in May 2009. An action plan for pollutant
reduction and mitigation has been underway
(18)
. This
current study collected data from the 20 December 2009
to 10 February 2010 in the winter season. The wind
blew from the south to the area; the wind blew pass
through the industrial estate to the community. The
community people would expose to VOCs and other
pollutants from the industrial estate. The temperature
in the community areas ranged from 21.4 to 32.7°C with
an average temperature of 27.7°C. The relative humidity
ranged from 33 to 87% with an average of 68.8%.
Most subjects (56.9%) had low education
levels from being completely uneducated up to primary
and secondary schools. Merchants made up 40.5%;
they operated small shops, were self-employed and
sold a number of different things consumed by the
local people and industrial estate workers. With
regard to general employees, they worked as laborers
depending upon the needs of employers in the
community. If they had higher education, they
could get work in the industries. During the period
of the present study, the Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate
and the area nearby had already become a pollution
control area. Most industries have many corporate,
social responsibility programs in order to share
resources, support health promotion and the general
welfare of the people in the communities. This research
may encounter selection bias because some subjects
are reluctant to participate in the research because of
long duration of data collection. Some who are serious
with the VOC emissions from the industries refuse to
be part of the present study. In the present study design
at the beginning, the study intended to recruit only
non-smokers without chronic diseases, who worked
and lived in the community, but could not get enough
subjects to participate. Finally, smoker-subjects (16.2%)
were recruited in the present study.
The present study used only one air
monitoring station at Map Ta Phut primary care unit.
Measuring personal exposure of petrochemical air
pollutants of individual subject was not possible due
to high cost and difficulty. Misclassification of
exposure was the limitation of the study. The subjects
in the same area were assumed to be exposed to the
same concentration of multiple pollutants each day.
The sources of air pollutants may come from emissions
of the petrochemical industries and traffic related air
pollutants. The levels of air pollutants in the
communities, CO, total VOCs, O
3
, SO
2
,
NO
2
, and
PM
10
were primarily below the Thai standard. The
concentration of SO
2
was low because of industries
having to use coal containing less sulfur as a source of
fuel in industrial processes. This gas can be changed
into sulfide or sulfate at high humidity and it can
also incorporate into particulate matter
(19)
. The CO
may come from any burning or igniting of chemicals
experiencing incomplete combustion. The geometric
means of SO
2
(5.03 ppb), NO
2
(13.35 ppb) and PM
10
(59.46 μg/m
3
) in this current study were lower than those
of SO
2
(10.60 ppb), NO
2
(17.43 ppb) and PM
10
(93.57 μg/
m
3
) in the petrochemical polluted area in Taiwan
(9)
.
When comparing between the air pollutants in the
petrochemical polluted area in Rayong and the traffic
polluted area in Bangkok, the average level of SO
2
was
similar. The average level of CO (0.51 ppm), NO
2
(14.53
ppb) and VOCs (2.3 ppb) in the industrial, polluted area
in Rayong was considerably lower than the average
CO (1.43 ppm), NO
2
(52.58 ppb) and VOCs (3.54 ppm) in
the traffic-polluted areas in Bangkok
(13)
. It can be seen
that the people who live or work close to the industrial
polluted area are exposed to lower air pollutants
than those in the traffic-polluted area, but the chemical
compositions in the traffic-polluted area may be
different from the petrochemical polluted area. The
toxicity of chemicals depends on types and
composition of chemicals.
A daily symptom diary for each subject was
used to report acute symptoms everyday for 63 days.
They were asked by the trained staff about the
symptoms experienced the previous day. The subjects
who reported more symptoms continued to report
more symptoms every day, whereas the subjects who
reported fewer symptoms reported less. The average
daily reported symptoms were used to compare with
the daily concentrations of mixed industrial pollutants
on each day for the 63 days of the study period. The
daily reported symptoms of cough (4.08), phlegm (2.78)
and wheezing (0.62) in this current study were quite
S70 J Med Assoc Thai Vol. 96 Suppl. 5 2013
low when compared with reported symptoms of
cough (11.2), phlegm (10.8), wheezing (6.70) in the
petrochemical polluted area in Taiwan
(9)
or with reported
symptoms of cough (7.10), phlegm (22.36) in the traffic-
polluted area in Bangkok
(13)
. The lower reported
symptoms of people in the communities may have
resulted from becoming accustomed to or building up
a tolerance for industrial air pollutants after having lived
in this area for so many years or the lower level of air
pollutants in the present study.
The pollutants having associated adverse
health effects was put into the model together with
other confounding factors. The confounding by
population characteristics was neglible because
subjects served as their own control
(20)
. The first model
included O
3
, CO and total VOCs by controlling for
gender, age, working duration (h) and PM
10
. Significant
associations between petrochemical air pollutants and
health effects were found, including total VOCs with
wheezing, shortness of breath, eye irritation and
dizziness. CO showed significant association with
headache, cold, cough, eye irritation and weakness
and O
3
demonstrated a relationship with nose
congestion, sore throat and phlegm. Wheezing was
scarcely reported by the subjects.
In the second model, O
3
was replaced by NO
2
;
consequently,
the effect of CO was slightly different
from the first model. The effect of CO was significantly
associated with headache, cough and eye irritation the
same as in the first model, but the effect of weakness
was not significant in the second model. Moreover, the
effect of CO was also significantly associated with
phelgm in the second model. Total VOCs were
associated with only eye irritation at very high odds
raito (15.92). The odds ratio of NO
2
with weakness was
very low (1.11). When study the effects of several
pollutants at the same time, VOCs, CO, O
3
, NO
2
and
PM
10
, the errors of multi-collinearity may encounter.
The NO
2
and VOCs were the precursor of O
3
(14,15)
. In
urban air, NO
2
can photolysis to NO and atomic
oxygen; the atomic oxygen reacts with oxygen to
form O
3
. However, fresh nitric oxide (NO) from vehicles’
combustion reacts with O
3
to form NO
2
lead to ozone
removal
(14,15)
. The main sources of air pollutants in the
Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate come from petrochemical
industries and traffic in the area. If unexpected situation
occurr in Map Ta Phut industrial estate, such as
chemicals leakage, fire and explosion of chemicals; the
VOC levels will be much higher concentration than the
results in the current study. The reported accute health
effects will be more serious. When compared the results
of the present study with other studies, the EPA did a
study in six communities in different parts of the United
States, and found that the VOCs were ten times higher
indoors than those outdoors, including areas with
petrochemical plants as air pollution sources of
VOCs
(21)
. The current study gave similar results with
the EPA study; the symptoms of VOCs-exposed
subjects included eye and upper respiratory irritation,
nasal congestion, headache, shortness of breath,
nausea, and vomiting. When subjects are exposed to
CO, symptoms may include fatigue, headache,
dizziness, nausea, vomitting, cognitive impairment and
tachycardia
(21)
. Yang et al (1997) studied the repiratory
and health effects of a population living in a
petrochemical-polluted area in Taiwan and found similar
acute symptoms including eye irritation, nausea, throat
irritation and chemical odor were reported at a
significantly higher rate in the exposed area than in the
control area
(9)
.
The results of the present study showed that
the petrochemical air pollutants were harmful to
populations in the close proximity of the industrial
estate. The health risk may be more serious in the
vulnarable groups such as children, elderly, pregnant
women and unborn child. This information will be
useful for decision-makers to plan to reduce the
emissions especially cancer causing agents from these
industries. The stack emission control for cancer
causing agents should help reduce the toxicity of
industrial polluted area.
Acknowledgement
The authors wish to thank most cordially the
staff at the Pollution Control Department, Ministry of
Natural Resources and Environment, for providing
statistics on the monitored industrial air pollutants at
Map Ta Phut Health Center in the Wat So Phon
community for this research.
Potential conflicts of interest
None.
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