Mae Rim District office and the public health office visited rose farms in the district’s Hua Chang sub-district on the 3rd March after receiving complaints from villagers who say that their health is being affected by the daily spraying of chemicals on the rose gardens.
With many of the 100 farmers interviewed (90 being migrant labourers), authorities have confirmed that chemicals are sprayed across the farms nearly every day for the past many years.
Authorities found many types of chemical fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides and have taken them all in for testing.
Villagers say that for the past five years they have had to breathe in this chemical smell daily and that there are beginning to be health effects manifesting in many villagers. On the day of the official visit, the smell was very strong and all officials present admitted that this was a problem.
A representative of the Mae Rim district office say that for the sake of ‘national security’, authorities will also be looking into the legality of these migrant workers as they have settled in the area and are now having families and expanding their homesteads.