On the night of December 2, 1984, the chemical, methyl isocyanate (MIC), spilled out from Union Carbide India Ltd’s (UCIL’s) pesticide factory turned the city into a vast gas chamber. People ran on the streets, vomiting and dying. This was India’s first (and so far, the only) major industrial disaster. This was a chemical industrial disaster and the Government had no clue how to respond in this case. The US-based multinational company, Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), which owned the plant through its subsidiary UCIL(Union Carbide India Limited), failed to deal with the human tragedy.
Bhopal was struck by two tragedies: the one that happened immediately, and the other that unfolded in the years that followed.
The problem was nobody knew much about the toxin or its antidote. Within weeks of the accident many claimed that people were suffering from common ailments of the poor, such as tuberculosis and anaemia. However, till date nobody knows the health impacts of MIC and how to treat patients exposed to the gas. The children born after the disaster are also its victims because of exposure to the deadly gas while they were in their mothers’ wombs.
Additionally, chemical wastes remain dumped in and around the premises of UCIL factory, contaminating the water that people drink.
Union Carbide used trade secrecy as a prerogative to withhold information on the exact composition of the leaked gases. MIC, when reacts with water at high temperatures and releases as many as 300 highly toxic chemicals.
In the first few days, there was evidence that people could be suffering from cyanide poisoning—intravenous injections of sodium thiosulphate, an antidote, imagewas found to be working on the patients. But soon, it was discontinued.
In 1989, UCC paid some US $470 million (worth Rs 750 crore that year) as compensation for the disaster. This was one-seventh of the original demand from the Indian government. However, all civil and criminal cases against the company were terminated. Later, it was realised that many more were suffering from exposure to the poisonous gas. So, when the case was decided, compensation was doled out to virtually the entire city. The final settlement was less than Rs 15,000 per victim.
Bhopal disaster 2.0
The factory used to manufacture three pesticides: carbaryl (trade name Sevin), aldicarb (trade name Temik) and a formulation of carbaryl and gamma-hexachlorocyclohexane (g-HCH), sold under the trade name, Sevidol. For 15 years till the disaster, it dumped process wastes, by-products, solvents, sub-standard products, wastes from machinery and polluted water at dump sites inside and outside the plant. Another 350 tonnes of waste has been kept in a leaking shed at the site. These wastes are still lying at the site, polluting soil and groundwater. This second legacy—Bhopal Disaster 2.0—now threatens even a larger number of people than the first one. Many of the chemicals degrade slowly and are likely to remain in the environment for hundreds of years. They will keep spreading unless they are taken out and the site is decontaminated.
Most studies found groundwater surrounding the UCIL site to be contaminated with chlorinated benzenes and HCH isomers. Carbaryl, aldicarb, carbon tetrachloride and chloroform were also detected in some studies. All these can be linked to the wastes dumped by UCIL plant.
The Union government asked Dow to deposit Rs 100 crore for environmental remediation. Dow has continued frantic lobbying to get the Indian government to withdraw its application.
The disaster had impacts far beyond the boundary of the ill-fated city and its people. It made a difference worldwide to the way that chemical and hazardous waste management was reinforced; workers’ safety precautions mandated; and legislation for environmental management strengthened. Perhaps, this is why we have not seen another Bhopal-like disaster in the past 30 years.
After 30 years, the government of India is still struggling to establish the liability of UCIL, its parent company UCC and its buyer, Dow Chemical.
Bhopal was struck by two tragedies: the one that happened immediately, and the other that unfolded in the years that followed.
The problem was nobody knew much about the toxin or its antidote. Within weeks of the accident many claimed that people were suffering from common ailments of the poor, such as tuberculosis and anaemia. However, till date nobody knows the health impacts of MIC and how to treat patients exposed to the gas. The children born after the disaster are also its victims because of exposure to the deadly gas while they were in their mothers’ wombs.
Additionally, chemical wastes remain dumped in and around the premises of UCIL factory, contaminating the water that people drink.
Union Carbide used trade secrecy as a prerogative to withhold information on the exact composition of the leaked gases. MIC, when reacts with water at high temperatures and releases as many as 300 highly toxic chemicals.
In the first few days, there was evidence that people could be suffering from cyanide poisoning—intravenous injections of sodium thiosulphate, an antidote, imagewas found to be working on the patients. But soon, it was discontinued.
In 1989, UCC paid some US $470 million (worth Rs 750 crore that year) as compensation for the disaster. This was one-seventh of the original demand from the Indian government. However, all civil and criminal cases against the company were terminated. Later, it was realised that many more were suffering from exposure to the poisonous gas. So, when the case was decided, compensation was doled out to virtually the entire city. The final settlement was less than Rs 15,000 per victim.
Bhopal disaster 2.0
The factory used to manufacture three pesticides: carbaryl (trade name Sevin), aldicarb (trade name Temik) and a formulation of carbaryl and gamma-hexachlorocyclohexane (g-HCH), sold under the trade name, Sevidol. For 15 years till the disaster, it dumped process wastes, by-products, solvents, sub-standard products, wastes from machinery and polluted water at dump sites inside and outside the plant. Another 350 tonnes of waste has been kept in a leaking shed at the site. These wastes are still lying at the site, polluting soil and groundwater. This second legacy—Bhopal Disaster 2.0—now threatens even a larger number of people than the first one. Many of the chemicals degrade slowly and are likely to remain in the environment for hundreds of years. They will keep spreading unless they are taken out and the site is decontaminated.
Most studies found groundwater surrounding the UCIL site to be contaminated with chlorinated benzenes and HCH isomers. Carbaryl, aldicarb, carbon tetrachloride and chloroform were also detected in some studies. All these can be linked to the wastes dumped by UCIL plant.
The Union government asked Dow to deposit Rs 100 crore for environmental remediation. Dow has continued frantic lobbying to get the Indian government to withdraw its application.
The disaster had impacts far beyond the boundary of the ill-fated city and its people. It made a difference worldwide to the way that chemical and hazardous waste management was reinforced; workers’ safety precautions mandated; and legislation for environmental management strengthened. Perhaps, this is why we have not seen another Bhopal-like disaster in the past 30 years.
After 30 years, the government of India is still struggling to establish the liability of UCIL, its parent company UCC and its buyer, Dow Chemical.
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