OPINION

Stop the deathtraps

Re: "Unsafe vans must be axed", (Editorial, Aug 13).

I agree with your editorial that Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob, who made an about-face on his predecessor's attempt to ban passenger van operators from using vehicles that are more than 10 years old, is far from showing competence.

The Transport Ministry must consider the safety of van passengers as of the utmost importance. The ministry should realise it has the duty to regulate operators of passenger vans to provide the best services -- and at the most reasonable prices -- to the public.

Secondly, some passenger vans have been modified so they can run in excess of 200 kilometres per hour -- despite having just one side door for entry and exit, and a run-of-the-mill braking system -- making them even more unsuitable to operate as passenger vehicles.

Lastly, the age of many of these van drivers is more than 60. They are also made to work for more than 12 hours a day.

This slave-like human factor is posing even a greater danger to the public.

Hence, the ministry needs people who understand the problems the country is facing, and act accordingly.

Recently, media outlets have carried articles demanding that a ban be placed on the sale of three agricultural chemicals, one of which is paraquat.

Indeed, paraquat is a dangerously toxic herbicide that should never be sprayed in the air as is done in Thai fields.

However, not one of these articles mentions a unique property of paraquat that makes it invaluable to gardeners and horticulturalists.

To kill a plant, paraquat has to be in the presence of both chlorophyll and sunlight.

As a result, it works only on green leafy material in daylight.

It is inactive on brown woody stems. Importantly, and unlike most herbicides, it does not poison the soil around the treated plant.

This is because the actual killing agent is the excited electronic state of a complex of chlorophyll with paraquat, called an exciplex: no chlorophyll, no complex: no sunlight, no excited electronic state. Careful application to a selected weed is perfectly safe.

While a ban on widespread careless agricultural use is desirable, sale of small quantities for horticultural use should be allowed.

My concern is that the people who will make such decisions have no interest in, and little knowledge of, chemistry or horticulture.

I tried to do my TM30 online, but the system does not seem to work. Then I sent in the documents by EMS, but got no reply.

So when I had to renew my visa, I took along to Immigration a third set of documents and proof of my earlier failures. It took two visits but eventually I was given a receipt of notification.

Shortly afterwards, along with the paperwork to renew my visa, I was asked for a copy of the receipt of notification.

What kind of agency is it that gives you an official document and then minutes later asks you for a copy of the same document they have just given you?