Penangites tear up over 'sulphur in our eyes'

GEORGE TOWN: Motorcyclists riding home after work on mainland Penang have been getting teary, bloodshot eyes and they think they know why.

Photos on social media show the sides of highways near Juru stained with deposits of sulphur powder.

The problem is that sulphur is not soluble in water, so despite almost-daily evening showers, the sulphur does not disappear and merely collects along the edges of the highway.

Once the water evaporates, the powdered sulphur will be kicked up into the air again.

“It feels like sand in my eyes” said Muhd Hafic Abd Razak, while Facebook user Acu Slumbejer said “so this is the thing that made my eyes tear up last night” this morning.

This sulphuric affliction, according to social media, is at its worst along the North-South Expressway between the Juru and Jawi toll plazas and only motorcyclists seem to be affected as people in cars are shielded in their closed air-conditioned cabins.

Some bikers claim that this is a recurring discomfort, with some thinking that it is spilled by lorries transporting sulphur to nearby factories.

However, this cannot be verified because lorries are required by law to prevent what they are carrying from spilling onto highways.

According to websites on industrial safety worldwide, powdered sulphur is a serious eye irritant, which will also distress a person’s airways.

Even so, the sulphur ordeal did nothing to dampen classic Malaysian humour.

“No wonder I was crying. I thought someone was cutting onions along the highway,” wrote a Facebook user.

“I came home in tears and red-eyed. My husband thought I was crying because of some unhappiness at work,” wrote another.