POSTBAG
Re: ''High demand for 'phayung' threatens protected forests'' (BP, May 8).
As proposed by Thailand and Vietnam during the Cites meeting held in Bangkok in February, Siamese rosewood is now listed on Appendix 11 of the convention.
Both nations have reached out to parties within the convention to help Thailand combat the illegal trade of phayung to China, the major market.
While this is one step that Thailand and Vietnam can take to address the illegal cross-border trade, there are many domestic measures that should be taken by Thailand to combat illegal logging of these precious forests and to help support the rangers who risk their lives on the front lines of this violent trade.
The government needs to stiffen the penalties which are currently very low.
While arrests have been made, nearly all are of local people or Cambodians who are driven by promises of high rewards with very little risk.
There have been no major arrests of either the agents procuring rosewood, nor the wealthy driving this demand.
In addition, the government needs to support enforcement with realistic resources and should convene a cross-border task force composed of Siam rosewood range states and China to focus on the agents and traders behind this illegal trade.
Official corruption facilitates the trade at every stage, from the forest to the borders and ports.
Violence is now a regular feature of the illegal rosewood trade with scores of deaths as a consequence.
China's wealthy are responsible for this, but the Thai government must urgently step up its game and show it is serious about stopping the plunder of the country's precious rosewood forests.
FAITH DOHERTY
Head of Forests Campaign
Environmental Investigation Agency
Time to boycott KFC
In response to my letter about KFC, Victor Meldrew (''Any KFC cruelty here?'', PostBag, May 7) wants to know how KFC chickens are treated in Thailand.
In the past I have had difficulty finding an answer to that question and I'm in the process of contacting people who might have the answers.
But the question misses the point. KFC is a US corporation which benefits tremendously from selling their franchises abroad. In fact, if KFC was strictly a US operation, it would be having serious financial problems.
So KFC in Thailand is essentially an extension of KFC in the US.
If you give business to one, you are in effect giving business to the other. That's why an international boycott is necessary.
Still, I would exempt Canada from the boycott because that is the only country which has made well documented progress in improving the conditions of KFC chickens.
ERIC BAHRT
Clearing the airport air
Re. ''Study cited incorrectly'' (PostBag, May 10).
Thailand doesn't need to slap a smoking ban in all of its airports as suggested by Nipapun Kunskulniti.
Leading airports around the world have smoking rooms with efficient air ventilation, while those in Thailand are pathetic. We just need to upgrade.
KRIT
Dual-pricing govt's fault
Re: ''Bravo, MRT, shame on you BTS'' (PostBag, May 5).
You can blame BTS, but it is a private business. If you really insist on equality, you should blame the government for double pricing at national parks and other tourist spots before you write about BTS.
They think or pretend that they still can't compete with developed countries on the same turf. In the EU, very few countries have a dual-pricing system.
R H SUGA
Lamphun
In a land of copycats
It seems clear to me that Peter Daniels (''Don't cave in to copyright,'' PostBag, May 8) has probably never designed any type of product or his view that copyright doesn't count would not be so absurd.
A copyright is an incentive. Without incentives, there would be no quality products, nor small inventors. Unfortunately,, most of Asia is the land of copycats. Such a practice is definitely a form of theft.
PERRY
Chon Buri
This is your chance, PM
Re: ''Yingluck wants ICT to act against online critics'' (BP, May 8).
To Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, I write as your admirer and not your foe.
Currently, you are at a crossroads of either being yourself or part of your powerful family.
First, your Mongolia speech was not ''the whole truth and nothing but the truth''. It was only the selected truth. You did not mention what drove the army to come out. Was it the unbearable conduct of your brother when intoxicated with power?
Second, in the speech, you mentioned none of your family's grudges but said it was for the ''common good of democracy'' that you had to tell the truth. This mantra has been used by many but it had never been used by you prior to that.
You now are doing it again in ordering the ICT Ministry to pursue your critics for the sake of the common good. You have now become a real politician entering an arena of dirt in Thai politics.
You have time to salvage the situation and go back to your old self, appearing as a sincere but not wily prime minister, or forever be labelled as a run-of-the-mill politician.
SONGDEJ PRADITSMANONT
Follow China's lead
A recent trip to China opened my eyes to the amount of electric bikes and tuk-tuks on the road.
Here are the real pluses with having an e-bike (in China):
1. They are cheap (less than 15,000 baht).
2. No registration/insurance fees.
3. No need for a licence to drive.
4. Very cheap to run and environmentally friendly.
5. They can be secured by means of a wheel clamp/lock.
Although the traffic was typically chaotic, I didn't witness any serious accidents due to speeding. It made me wonder why these vehicles are not being promoted here.
So, come on Thailand! Follow China's foresight _ the environment and populace will be the winners!
KEN
Udon Thani
Economy of errors
Sawai Boonma (''Debt aside, economy looks a lot like Greece's,'' BP, May 1) claims ''the debt burden remains well below 90% of GDP, beyond which debt starts to have a substantive adverse impact on economic performance, according to recent research carried out by prominent economists such as Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff.''
But in his article ''How a coding error led to economic ruin,'' published in the Bangkok Post on April 20, Paul Krugman explained that no one had been able to replicate the results of Mr Reinhart and Mr Rogoff.
Eventually, after intense professional questioning of their non-peer-reviewed paper, it was discovered that they had omitted inconvenient data, used ''unusual and highly questionable statistical procedures'' and entered the wrong code in an Excel spreadsheet, something a student spotted in 10 minutes once Mr Reinhart and Mr Rogoff had been shamed into releasing their data.
Correct these anomalies and the much-touted 90% threshold disappears. And even if there is a correlation between high debt and slow growth, it is far from clear which causes which.
Mr Reinhart and Mr Rogoff have admitted the Excel error but claimed they never said debt necessarily causes slow growth. This is difficult to square with the fact that they later published papers with titles like ''Too Much Debt and the Economy Can't Grow''.
There have been claims that Mr Reinhart and Mr Rogoff, with the resources of Harvard behind them and legions of students to check their calculations, may have erred under the influence of their links to the Peterson Institute for International Economics. This was founded and is funded by Wall Street billionaire Peter G Peterson, who has spent millions propagandising the message that government debt is evil and austerity is the only choice.
Anyway, if that's their excuse for peddling sloppy, discredited research, what is Mr Sawai's explanation?
ALEC BAMFORD
Discomforts of 'home'
Re: ''Jutanugarn family considering moving abroad'' (BP, May 8).
According to Somboon Jutanugarn, the family is considering relocating to the US, so that sisters Moriya and Ariya, rising stars of Thai golf, would be better able to focus on playing on the LPGA Tour. ''We are planning to buy a house there if Ariya earns an LPGA Tour card,'' Mr Somboon said.
Isn't it wonderful that a successful Thai family can buy a house in the US. It's too bad foreign citizens residing in Thailand can't do likewise here.
DAVID LEIKER
Na Jomtien
Get asbestos facts straight
I am writing in response to ''Asbestos kills, that's for sure'' (Opinion, April 26), which failed to note internationally accepted risk variances that are a function of asbestos differentiation: namely if the material is the amphibole or serpentine (chrysotile) form. Chrysotile or white asbestos _ unlike the amphibole form _ is not banned in the US, Canada, India, China, Brazil and some other countries. Instead it is used in accordance with international safe use protocols.
Similarly, the editorial did not mention the health relevance of exposure levels or how, in fact, the chrysotile is used.
These factors are considered fundamental by medical researchers and international health organisations when assessing the potential health risks of asbestos, or any other known carcinogen that is commonly used in industrial manufacturing. When those differences have been taken into account, the World Health Assembly recommended that countries adopt a differentiated approach to eliminating asbestos-related diseases and not a blanket ban.
We should be aware of other asbestos-related myths, including the statistical extrapolation that 107,000 deaths per year can be attributed to this substance.
Not only has this projection never factually materialised, it is based on data using amphibole exclusive exposures at levels dating from more than 50 years ago.
Chrysotile asbestos has been used safely to the benefit of Thai society for more than 70 years without a single chrysotile-related death.
This is the factual conclusion of the Thai Ministry of Public Health based on studies that date back more than 30 years.
MANOP JAROENJIT
Director of Chrysotile Information Center, Thailand
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Article source: http://www.thethailandlinks.com/2013/05/11/stop-forest-plunder/
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