Tanongsak Yingratanasuk |
As tourists stroll through the morning market in Chonburi province, Thailand, spicy aromas waft from kitchens where “rice in the bamboo,” a traditional delicacy, is simmering. Cooks have been up since before dawn, mixing rice with coconut milk, sugar, beans, and other ingredients, then stuffing the mixture into bamboo shoots. They cook it slowly over an open fire of coconut shells and wood.
It’s a signature dish of Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, Burma, and other countries where bamboo is abundant. Some 40 kitchens in Chonburi province alone cook about 10,000 of them a day. Chonburi province, where Burapha University is located, is a beach resort town. Tourists like to take the bamboo tubes home.
The hidden hazard in this paradise is the smoke from those open fires. It is both an occupational hazard and an environmental nuisance. Nobody yet knows the health effects for the workers in these small, family-owned businesses.
The answer is likely to come from the research of Tanongsak Yingratanasuk, director of the Industrial Hygiene program at Burapha University. Yingratanasuk (known to colleagues as “Nok”) is a 2001 graduate of the University of Washington’s Industrial Hygiene and Safety program, and he has exported some of our department’s ideas, methods, and programs to Thailand.
From the Environmental Health Laboratory, Nok learned to develop biomarkers for wood smoke exposure. By measuring metabolites in urine samples, scientists can calculate a person’s recent exposure to wood smoke and separate wood-smoke exposure from other pollutants, such as vehicle exhaust. Nok is collaborating with Assistant Professor Chris Simpson to apply these biomarkers to the types of cooking fires used in Thailand.
Borrowing a model from our department’s Field Research and Consultation Group, Nok has set up an industrial hygiene consultation service for small businesses that aren’t covered by other health services.
With support from Associate Professor Matthew Keifer and the International Scholars in Occupational and Environmental Health program, Nok has set up a regional center of excellence in exposure assessment and occupational hygiene in Thailand. This center will train local professionals, with a focus on silicosis and noise-induced hearing loss. Cottage industries are their top research priority.
Nok’s master’s thesis was about respiratory health and silica exposure among stone carvers. On his return to Thailand, he provided industrial hygiene and epidemiological training for local health professionals. Together they set up silicosis surveillance and health service programs for Thai stone carvers and stone crushing mill workers.
INTERNATIONAL SCHOLARS
The International Scholars in Occupational and Environmental Health program is funded by the Fogarty International Center of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). It has three functions:
- sending academic consultants to countries such as Thailand
- sponsoring continuing education courses such as a scientific conference on occupational and environmental health in Vietnam
- bringing colleagues from Southeast Asia and Central America to the UW for short courses or graduate work
The UW has several partner universities, including the National and Technological universities in Costa Rica, the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua, and Burapha University in Thailand.
Burapha University offers more than 50 programs of study at the undergraduate and graduate level. Its Faculty of Public Health was established in 1993 with three programs: Industrial Hygiene and Safety, Environmental Health, and Health Education and Health Behavior. In 1997, it started a continuing education program in public health to provide human resource development for public health personnel.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
International Scholars in Environmental Health
http://depts.washington.edu/isoeh
Burapha University Faculty of Public Health
http://www.buu.ac.th/webeng/pbhealth.html
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The stages of cooking with bamboo shoots, a method used in Thailand. Tanongsak Yingratanasuk
Recipe for Rice in the Bamboo
1 cup of glutinous rice (sticky rice)
1 1/2 cup of coconut milk (add a little water if the coconut milk is too thick)
2 spoons of sugar
a pinch of salt
2 spoons of black beans (optional)
a thick shoot of bamboo
charcoal for the fire
1. Cut the bamboo shoot into 10–12 inch lengths (you need the joint to contain the ingredients). You may use other kinds of containers, such as metal, but it will not be traditional.
2. Soak glutinous rice and black beans in water for at least 5 hours (to make them softer to cook).
3. Put the rice and beans into the bamboo shoots (1/3 of the shoot’s length).
4. Mix sugar and salt with coconut milk, stirring well until dissolved. Pour the mixture into the shoots.
5. Cover the open end of the bamboo shoot with aluminum foil.
6. Place the shoots upright on the ground and surround them with charcoal (good for a backyard barbecue party or camping or boy/girl scout jamboree) or in the oven for about 2–3 hours or until the rice is cooked (be careful of fire hazard–the bamboo shoot may burn).
7. Hammer the joint to break open the stuffed rice inside the bamboo and enjoy eating! |
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©
2004 Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington