Central Vietnam Finds 30 Tons of Fish Contaminated with Toxic Substance

Authorities in Vietnam’s central province of Quang Tri have detected 30 tons of frozen mackerel scads (Decapterus lajang) contaminated with phenol, a very harmful chemical substance belonging to a local seafood trader. Tran Van Thanh, director of the province’s Health Department, said inspectors had tested samples of six fish species at the trader’s store, including three batches of scads. One came up with a phenol content of 0.037 milligram per kilogram. Thanh said inspectors will test products of other major seafood traders in the province which is one of the four central coastal provinces where the massive death of maritime species has occurred since April 6. It was unclear how the scads, often caught around 15 kilometers offshore at 30 meters deep, were infested with phenol. Phenol, or carbolic acid, is primarily used to synthesize plastics and related materials. The substance may cause harmful effects on the central nervous system, heart, liver and kidney, resulting in dysrhythmia, seizures and coma. Vietnam is battling a prolonged fish death disaster which many experts and environmentalists said was caused by discharged waste of the steel plant of the Taiwanese Formosa Plastic Group located in the central province of Ha Tinh. In April, hundreds of tons of fish were washed ashore in Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, and Thua Thien-Hue provinces, apparently killed by industrial effluents. Suspicion has centered on Hung Nghiep Formosa Steel Company, a major Taiwanese firm in the Vung Ang Economic Zone in Ha Tinh. The company admitted it has a large sewage pipe going straight into the sea, but it claimed all its discharged wastewater had been treated. Officials are expected to disclose inspection findings soon. According to some local fishermen, mackerel scads were not found among the dead fish in April. Despite the efforts of authorities in the four central provinces affected by the environmental catastrophe in burring dead fish, many traders have collected the fish for unknown purposes. They may use the chemically-contaminated fish for sauce production or sale in other localities. Quang Tri province’s authorities ordered the trader to destroy the fish. (Thanh Nien – Young People June 12)