TOXIC LEGACY IN RARE EARTH VILLAGE HAUNTS LYNAS.

"Mitsubishi's rare-earth refinery is Malaysia's worst industrial tragedy," said T. Jayabalan, a public health consultant who lived in Bukit Merah in the late 1980s, fighting for the plant's closure and documenting leukaemia cases.

Jayabalan said he had documented at least 11 deaths due to blood poisoning, brain tumours and leukaemia.

AN ADAPTATION OF MOTHERCHELL WITH APOLOGIES

When the plant opened, villagers immediately complained of a stinging smoke and foul odour. Local ignorance meant that waste disposal was carried out with shocking recklessness.

"At one time, we dug a pit near a river in Bukit Merah and buried the waste," said Ng.

"Occasionally, lumps of wet thorium sludge would fall off the lorry and school children would walk pass it."

Mitsubishi Chemicals closed the plant in 1994 after a mounting public outcry, but the government has neither admitted nor denied radiation poisoning in the village.

The only payout by the company was a RM500,000 lump sum to the local community to aid victims in 1994.

"Look at my hands. The skin is peeling," said a 68-year-old local resident who gave only his surname, Ng.

"When I go to a local bar, the women just take off, afraid that if I touch them they will be infected," he said angrily of a mystery skin disorder he has endured for years.

Ng, who ran a hauling business, was awarded a contract to dispose of radioactive waste from the then-new facility in 1982.

The plant's Japanese operators told him it could be used as fertiliser.

But the waste that he casually hauled away and disposed off in fields and rivers around Bukit Merah, home to 15,000 people, contained thorium, a carcinogenic radioactive chemical.

"At one time, we dug a pit near a river in Bukit Merah and buried the waste," said Ng.

"Occasionally, lumps of wet thorium sludge would fall off the lorry and school children would walk pass it."

Mitsubishi Chemicals closed the plant in 1994 after a mounting public outcry, but the government has neither admitted nor denied radiation poisoning in the village.

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TOXIC LEGACY IN RARE-EARTHS VILLAGE HAUNTS LYNAS.

Betcha, LYNAS would not be troubled because they have the backing of the Malaysian Government who may be giving them a Temporary Operating Licence. Why give a TOL, if it is so safe give a PERMANENT OPERATING LICENCE. I dare the GOM!