Jose

Know Phangan blog - its posts crack me up, wish it was still active!

Now I know what that powder found on bananas and pineapples is - Calcium Carbide, a (very cheap) ripening but nasty toxic chemical!

Bitter truth about fruit

To avoid serious health problems all over Asia, wash all fruit (bananas, Pineapples, apples, mangos) under running water.  Avoid skin contact.

Also beware of Borox (sodium borate) in other fruits and vegetables.

Actor Nick Santino kills his dog, then himself

A few months ago approx 200kg of broken asbestos-cement roof tiles were used to fill holes in the dirt parking/entrance area of the Big Buddha pier at Bangrak. After several months of mini vans running over these tiles, a small proportion has been ground down to small pieces - the reminder is now dust.

Asbestos is fine when it is locked within cement (eg, roof tiles), and relatively not so dangerous when buried or even left sitting undisturbed around the beach areas. But it is absolutely deadly when its fibers are broken up and released into the atmosphere to be breathed in by unsuspecting victims.

I suggest giving this whole are a wide berth when getting on/off the Haad Rin Queen boat - there is access to the beach through the Petcharat Marina pier 50 metres west.
Other constructive suggestions on how to deal with this menace are most welcome. Ad hominem attacks will be ignored.

Method

A hand-held digital Geiger counter was placed around different locations at Bantai beach.
Background Gamma radiation was measured at ground and 75cm levels, CPM (Counts Per Minute) averaged over 10-minute sample readings.


Survey results

Beach: 70-90 CPM ground level, 45-60 CPM waist level
Land-filled garden: 105-110 CPM ground level, 60 CPM waist level
House: 125-130 CPM floor level, 70 CPM waist level


Comparisons

Average US: 15-20 CPM
Tokyo, post-Fukuhima: 20-40 CPM
High-radiation areas in Brazil and SW India: 70-80 CPM
Soil considered low-level nuclear waste in the US: 100 CPM
Nuclear alert levels in the US: 100-120 CPM
Equivalence to a chest x-ray every day: 125 CPM
Typical flight at 10,000m: 250-300 CPM


Conjecture

Local beach sand may be rich in naturally-radioactive Monazite minerals
Landfill extracted from hillsides may be high in naturally-occurring Uranium 238 and Thorium 232
Local Radon gas levels may be higher than average
House ceramic tiles may contain UO2 glazing


Jose