Officials, academics and industry representatives gathered in Taipei yesterday to debate a National Health Research Institutes (NHRI) study that found students near the No. 6 Naphtha Cracker have a higher risk of developing cancer due to chronic exposure to vinyl chloride monomer (VCM).
Amid doubts about whether the research was scientifically sound and claims that results were too preliminary for policymaking, the panel brought together many stakeholders in the issue, including government officials, NHRI researchers, medical and public health researchers and academics, residents from the affected area and representatives of Formosa Plastics Group (FPG, 台塑集團), which operates the cracker in Yunlin County’s Mailiao Township (麥寮).
The forum, led by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Liu Chien-kuo (劉建國), came after National Taiwan University Institute of Occupational Medicine and Industrial Hygiene professor Chan Chang-chuan (詹長權), who participated in the NHRI-sponsored study, revealed its findings earlier this week.
Photo: CNA
Chan said the research, controlled for other factors that might affect a metabolic process called thiodiglycolic acid (TDGA) excretion, found that students at the Syucuo branch of Ciaotou Elementary School, which is less than a kilometer from the FPG cracker, had elevated levels of TDGA in their urine. TDGA is major metabolite of VCM, which is a proven carcinogen and a gas released after standard processing by the plant, Chan said.
The average measurement from schoolchildren at the Syucuo school — 192.08 micrograms of TDGA per gram of creatinine — was much higher than that from three other elementary schools farther away from the plant, Chan said.
More than one student was found to have a urine level exceeding 500 micrograms of TDGA per gram of creatinine, he added.
Chan’s revelation of the “primary result,” in the words of the NHRI, of the research to reporters and his interpretation of the data were challenged by some officials, academics and the plant’s operator.
NHRI researcher Wen Chi-pang (溫啟邦), who was not involved in the study, countered that there is “nowhere in the world” where a company would determine the VCM exposure of its workers by testing TDGA levels in their urine.
“There is an association between VCM and TDGA, but maybe it is not that salient [for TDGA as a biomarker],” Wen said.
Wen said it is misleading for media outlets to directly link TDGA levels with cancer risks.
“Overinterpretation should not be encouraged lest panic spread among the residents,” Wen said.
Several experts, as well as the FPG in its statement, questioned the validity of urinary TDGA levels as a biomarker for VCM exposure, and the lack of a control group or a group with background value.
Yunlin County Deputy Commissioner Shih Keh-he (施克和) said he was “confused” by the perceived contradiction shown by Chan and the NHRI’s interpretations of the research result.
What Shih was referring to was that while a NHRI researcher making a presentation during the discussion said that the health examination given to the schoolchildren showed no abnormalities, Chan interpreted elevated TDGA levels as signifying a serious risk to the children’s health.
Yunlin County Government Health Bureau head Wu Chao-chun (吳昭軍), who attended a meeting held by the NHRI for local residents on Wednesday night, said that while the Syucuo students’ average urinary TDGA level is exceptionally high, that by itself does not indicate a higher risk of cancer.
The NHRI was accused of downplaying the elevated numbers and the association between TDGA and VCM in the meeting with the residents, which met with strong criticism from at least one academic.
However, many academics agreed that while the soundness of the research could be improved and the study has a long way to go, for the children’s sake it would be appropriate for the government to take action and relocate the students before the final results arise, a conclusion with which Shih agreed.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
RSS