Bhopal
20,000 dead. 150,000 survivors chronically ill. Communities still drinking contaminated groundwater 18 years later - because Dow has not yet cleaned up the dangerous chemicals Union Carbide left behind....
Between 1977 and 1984, Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL), located within a crowded working class neighbourhood in Bhopal, was licensed by the Madhya Pradesh Government to manufacture phosgene, monomethylamine (MMA), methylisocyanate (MIC) and the pesticide carbaryl, also known as Sevin.
On the night of the 2-3 December 1984 one of the world's worst industrial disasters occurred at this Union Carbide plant. Water inadvertently entered the MIC storage tank, where over 40 metric tonnes of MIC were being stored. The addition of water to the tank caused a runaway chemical reaction, resulting in a rapid rise in pressure and temperature. The heat generated by the reaction, the presence of higher than normal concentrations of chloroform, and the presence of an iron catalyst (resulting from corrosion of the stainless steel tank wall) resulted in a reaction of such momentum, that gases formed could not be contained by safety systems. As a result, MIC and other reaction products, in liquid and vapour form, escaped from the plant into the surrounding areas.
There was no warning for people surrounding the plant as the emergency sirens had been switched off. The effect on the people living in the shanty settlements just over the fence was immediate and devastating.
Many died in their beds, others staggered from their homes, blinded and choking, to die in the street. Many more died later after reaching hospitals and emergency aid centres. The early acute effects were vomiting and burning sensations in the eyes, nose and throat, and most deaths have been attributed to respiratory failure. For some, the toxic gas caused such massive internal secretions that their lungs became clogged with fluids, while for others, spasmodic constriction of the bronchial tubes led to suffocation. Many of those who survived the first day were found to have impaired lung function.
Follow-up studies on survivors have also reported neurological symptoms including headaches, disturbed balance, depression, fatigue and irritability. Abnormalities and damage to the gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal, reproductive and immunological systems were also frequently found.
The factory was closed down after the accident. The accident also led, as expected, to intensive experimental and epidemiological research into the toxicity of MIC and the tissue damage it could cause. Prior to the Bhopal accident, practically nothing was known, and therefore since 1984 numerous human health investigations and laboratory toxicity studies have been conducted. However, amongst the controversies regarding blame and accountability, and the research into the toxicity of MIC, the fate of the redundant former UCIL site was largely overlooked.
The survey conducted for the Bhopal Legacy report by Greenpeace International has demonstrated substantial and, in some locations, severe contamination of land and drinking water supplies with heavy metals and persistent organic contaminants both within and surrounding the former UCIL pesticide formulation plant. There is an urgent need for a more detailed and extensive survey if the full extent of ongoing contamination from the plant is to be determined.
