Silicon dioxide hazard in air

IPOH: Dust collected by residents staying in the vicinity of a cement factory here has been found to contain high levels of the hazardous silicon dioxide.

The samples, tested by the Tasik Cement factory, were found to contain higher levels of silicon dioxide than dust samples collected at the factory.

“The samples taken from the residents and the factory showed the same chemical composition. But the sample obtained from the residents showed a higher level of silicon dioxide, which the Health Department has confirmed is hazardous,” Kepayang assemblyman Loke Chee Yan said at a press conference yesterday.

However, he said, there was still no concrete proof that the dust pollution was cement dust.

Concerned: Loke (left) and Resident Action Committee secretary Leong Hee Sung showing the various samples of dust collected to reporters at the press conference in Ipoh yesterday.

He said the chemical composition of the dust samples collected by residents in April was made known to a special committee set up to resolve an long-standing problem plaguing Tasik residents.

According to information found on the Internet, silicon dioxide is harmful when inhaled, and known to cause asthma, bronchitis and possibly lung cancer.

As such, Loke said, the Department of Environment (DOE) had set up several machines at Taman Kinta, Kim Fah and Arena Kepayang to monitor dust emission.

Residents of Taman Westpool, Wah Keong Park, Kampung Kepayang and Kampung Simee have also lodged similar complaints of dust pollution.

The DOE will check the dust emission every 48 hours for a month, said Loke, who is also a member of the special committee.

The state Health Department, he said, had also issued a directive to private clinics in those residential areas to record the number of people affected by asthma, bronchitis and eye irritation.

“The private clinics are supposed to collect the data over a month to see if there is an increase in the number of such cases,” he added.

The problem of dust pollution was highlighted after the residents raised the matter with the state government in April.