humanitarian impact of bhopal gas trgedy
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Introduction
The industrial catastrophe that occurred on the midnight of December 2,
1984 at Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant in Bhopal, India was the worst
industrial accident in the world. The official count was around 3000 deaths, but
unofficial estimates are around 8000 – 10000 deaths (Bogart, 1989). Since then, a report
in NY Times indicates the death toll has reached a high of 14,410 due to the chronic
diseases caused by the gas leakage (NYT, 08/02/2002). This is a complex case,
involving critics from all sides accusing the Government of India, U.S. Government, and
Union Carbide and the workers that handle the case. The purpose of examining this case
for this class, about Environmental Law is due to the fact that this involves a large-scale
environmental pollution accident and the legal difficulties in international prosecution
laws, extradition treaties and non-uniform regulations across countries which could be
exploited by companies. This paper, as the title suggests examines the social,
environmental, legal and economic aspects of this evolving tragedy.
History of the Accident
However tragic the circumstances turned out to be, the opening of the pesticide
plant in Bhopal was well meant. The period was before Green Revolution. India was
plagued with periodic droughts which resulted in famine. After centuries of British rule
and mismanaged kingdoms before that, India was reduced to poverty level subsistence
existence for 75% of its citizens. After partition there were two droughts and subsequent
famines in the Northeastern part of India. This brought the world’s attention to this
region. Several research projects later, drought resistant varieties of wheat originally
from the Sonora region of Mexico was developed to adapt to Indian conditions This
wheat variety had bigger inflorescence, were resistant to rain and wind. This however
required higher fertilizer application and had higher pesticide requirement. The
Government of India began approving pesticide factories all over India, and thus the
pesticide factory in India was opened in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh in 1969 (Morehouse
and Subramaniam, 1986). This plant produced the pesticide carbaryl, also called as Sevin
(Kurzman, 1987). The first intermediate product in this process was phosgene, which
was produced from the reaction of carbon monoxide with chlorine. Phosgene in turn
reacted with monomethylamine to produce methyl iscyanate (MIC), the deadly gas that
was reason for the Bhopal tragedy. MIC was reacted with alpha-naphthol to produce
carbaryl. MIC is highly combustible therefore it was kept under a blanket of nitrogen in
two storage tanks in the Bhopal plant. This storage location on site of the factory was ill-
advised since the factory was located among densely populated areas (Morehouse and
Subramaniam, 1986). This location was rejected by the municipality authorities of
Bhopal, but then the Central Government gave approval. By the malfunctioning of the
valve, on the night of December 2nd, 1984, water got into the storage tanks, and reacted
with nitrogen and thus the blanket gone, MIC leaked out. Within 2 hours the storage tank
was empty.
The reaction was catastrophic. The gas leaked over the city, carried by the
wind into the shantytowns where squatters were living, into residential areas where
working people and wealthy were living, to the railway station, where at least 200 people
were found dead lying on the platforms. The wind carried the cloud to a vast area of
almost 40 sq km. The next morning, several thousands were discovered lying dead on
the streets of Bhopal, with post mortems revealing highly necroses lungs, and filled with
fluid and in some cases holes appeared in the lungs due to the reaction with MIC
(Morehouse and Subramaniam, 1986). The side effects continue even today (Greenpeace
International, 2002). To date, they claim 20,000 have died and 150,000 are chronically ill
and clean up efforts are not up to date. “….Communities around Bhopal drinking water is
still contaminated. Women are having gynecological problems and are giving birth to
babies that have birth defects. Eighteen years later, the plant location, which was
subsequently abandoned, still has stockpiles of hazardous wastes and obsolete
chemicals.” India Today, in its February 15th, 1985 issue writes, “….the dead may not
have been so unlucky after all. Their end came horribly; it is true, choking on air that had
suddenly gone vile. But at least the nightmare was brief. And then it was over. For
those who survived the poisonous methyl isocyanite leak from the Union Carbide plant,
release will not come so quickly. Thousands of seriously affected survivors have
suffered such extensive lung damage, that they no longer can apply themselves
physically.
By Akshat Nashine