December 2014 was about to be marked as the 30th anniversary of the massive toxic gas leak from Union Carbide Corporations chemical plant in Bhopal in the state of Madhya Pradesh in India and that accident killed more than 3,800 people. Herein, I would like to discuss briefly the health effects of exposure to the disaster, the legal responsibility and whether we have learned lessons from this toxic gas leak. Whether we have the industrial development, environmental management and public health. In my opinion India still has to pay attention on these matters and still more that 90 percentage of employees are working without safety environment and authorities also not take much more interest on the life of the employees. In the 1970s, the Indian government initiated policies to encourage foreign companies to invest in local industry. Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) was asked to build a plant for the manufacture of Sevin, a pesticide commonly used throughout Asia. As part of the deal, Indias government insisted that a significant percentage of the investment come from local shareholders. The government itself had a 22% stake in the companys subsidiary, Union Carbide India Limited (UCILThe company built the plant in Bhopal because of its central location and access to transport infrastructure. The specific site within the city was zoned for light industrial and commercial use, not for hazardous industry. The plant was initially approved only for formulation of pesticides from component chemicals, such as MIC imported from the parent company, in relatively small quantities. However, pressure from competition in the chemical industry led UCIL to implement backward integration – the manufacture of raw materials and intermediate products for formulation of the final product within one facility. This was inherently a more sophisticated and hazardous process In 1984, the plant was manufacturing Sevin at one quarter of its production capacity due to decreased demand for pesticides. Widespread crop failures and famine on the subcontinent in the 1980s led to increased indebtedness and decreased capital for farmers to invest in pesticides. Local managers were directed to close the plant and prepare it for sale in July 1984 due to decreased profitability when no ready buyer was found, UCIL made plans to dismantle key production units of the facility for shipment to another developing country. In the meantime, the facility continued to operate with safety equipment and procedures far below the standards found in its sister plant in Institute, West Virginia. The local Government was aware of safety problems but was reticent to place heavy industrial safety and pollution control burdens on the struggling industry because it feared the economic effects of the loss of such a large employer At 11.00 PM on December 2 1984, while most of the one million residents of Bhopal slept, an operator at the plant noticed a small leak of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas and increasing pressure inside a storage tank. The vent-gas scrubber, a safety device designer to neutralize toxic discharge from the MIC system, had been turned off three weeks prior Apparently a faulty valve had allowed one ton of water for cleaning internal pipes to mix with forty tons of MIC A 30 ton refrigeration unit that normally served as a safety component to cool the MIC storage tank had been drained of its coolant for use in another part of the plant Pressure and heat from the vigorous exothermic reaction in the tank continued to build. The gas flare safety system was out of action and had been for three months. At around 1.00 AM, December 3, loud rumbling reverberated around the plant as a safety valve gave way sending a plume of MIC gas into the early morning air Within hours, the streets of Bhopal were littered with human corpses and the carcasses of buffaloes, cows, dogs and birds. An estimated 3,800 people died immediately, mostly in the poor slum colony adjacent to the UCC plant [1,5]. Local hospitals were soon overwhelmed with the injured, a crisis further compounded by a lack of knowledge of exactly what gas was involved and what its effects were It became one of the worst chemical disasters in history and the name Bhopal became synonymous with industrial catastrophe Following the events of December 3 1984 environmental awareness and activism in India increased significantly. The Environment Protection Act was passed in 1986, creating the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) and strengthening Indias commitment to the environment. Under the new act, the MoEF was given overall responsibility for administering and enforcing environmental laws and policies. It established the importance of integrating environmental strategies into all industrial development plans for the country. However, despite greater government commitment to protect public health, forests, and wildlife, policies geared to developing the countrys economy have taken precedence in the last 30 years As conclusion now 30 years are about to over from the date of this world’s worst accident occurred but still the justice is not won and the people those who are residing near to the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) is suffering by one or another way. Apart from that people of Madhya Pradesh still strongly saying that Warren Anderson died unpunished due to protection by the US government and deliberate negligence of Indian government in bringing him before the justice. The tragedy of Bhopal continues to be a warning sign at once ignored and heeded. Bhopal and its aftermath were a warning that the path to industrialization, for developing countries in general and India in particular, is fraught with human, environmental and economic perils. Some moves by the Indian government The Indian economy is growing at a tremendous rate but at significant cost in environmental health and public safety as large and small companies throughout the subcontinent continue to pollute and the concern authorities have to take serious steps to keep the public from its all disadvantages and the disasters in all manners. Far more remains to be done for public health in the context of industrialization to show that the lessons of the countless thousands dead in Bhopal have truly been heeded.
Posted on: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 20:28:04 +0000
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