CONGLOMERATE San Miguel Corp. (SMC) on Tuesday made public findings of various tests it conducted in response to health and environment concerns raised by activist groups against its power plant in Bataan.
The company said in a statement that medical missions indicated the Petron Bataan Refinery in Limay has not caused ill effects to health or the environment.
Petron Corp., a subsidiary of SMC, has been operating the Petron Bataan Refinery in Limay for close to 60 years.
Out of 1,132 patients treated from Barangays Alangan and Lamao soon after the issue broke out around mid-January, only 9 percent, or 107 patients, were treated for skin conditions.
These included 40 individuals with scabies, 15 with fungal infections, 14 with infected wounds, 13 with contact dermatitis caused by deodorants, cosmetics, detergent, alcohol and the rest with insect bites.
Doctors, as well as the Department of Health, earlier said these skin diseases were common and could not be attributed to the plant’s operations.
Respiratory cases, meanwhile, were mostly patients with normal coughs and colds lasting three days (523); history of asthma (47); patients with pneumonia or bronchitis, which are bacterial in origin (14); and those with allergic colds (14).
Doctors said there was nothing out of the ordinary with the findings, as there is usually a spike in coughs and colds during the cold season.
A follow-up medical mission before the end of the month yielded a much lower number of cases.
From Sitio Pexsite in Lamao, for example, where some of the original complainants were reportedly from, there were only a few derma cases—three for insect bites, three for head lice, two with scabies and two with hives.
Meanwhile, cases of coughs and colds were also much lower at 41; allergic rhinitis, four; and pneumonia, three.
The company also disclosed results of random urine testing done on employees to determine the amount of chromium in their system, an indication of possible contamination.
Chromium (Cr) is the sixth-most abundant element in the Earth’s crust. While some types are required by the body in small amounts and are found in food, others can cause irritations in the nose, sneezing, itching, nosebleeds and ulcers, when inhaled at high levels. Long-term exposure to high levels is also linked to lung cancer.
Results of the tests, which involved around 17 exposed employees who work inside the facility from eight to 12 hours on overtime, yielded insignificant chromium levels at less than 0.02 microgram per milliliter—a negligible level that does not have significant effect on the human body.
Meanwhile, daily testing under a continuous emissions monitoring system required by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources show the new power plant has ultralow emissions.
The company said the plant utilizes Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) technology, which does not require the burning of coal at high temperatures.
Coal, the most affordable and common source of fuel for power generation, has been associated with pollution primarily because old technology involved burning it to generate steam to power turbines. CFB utilizes a process of “fluidization”, where fuel is mixed with limestone, which acts as an absorber of some 95 percent of sulphur pollutants.
Earlier, SMC released the results of recent emissions testing at the plant. Sulphur oxide was only at 41 parts per million, compared to the 245 ppm limit set by the DENR and World Bank.
Nitrogen oxide was at only 92 ppm, against the DENR’s 365 ppm limit and the WB’s 487 ppm threshold. Carbon Monoxide was at a mere 4 ppm compared to the DENR limit of 400 ppm.
In terms of opacity, or clearness of the air, which is also used to indicate particulate matters, the Limay plant registered just 0.8 percent, with dust at only 2.4 milligrams per cubic meter (mg/Nm3). The World Bank standard for particulate matters that is 50 mg/Nm3 and the DENR’s is 150 mg/Nm3.