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December 04, 2006

Big protest at Dow office

Asian Age, December 4, 2006

New Delhi, Dec. 3: Members of Students for Bhopal-India and other supporters staged a demonstration against company Dow Chemicals by protesting in front of their secret office in Noida, as part of a nationwide action to mark the 22nd anniversary of the Bhopal Gas Disaster, the world’s worst industrial catastrophe.

The Bhopal survivors, and their supporters worldwide, have persistently demanded that Dow Chemicals, which purchased Union Carbide in 2001, accept their liabilities in the Bhopal tragedy. Dow has consistently refused to do so.

Even 22 years after the disaster, the factory site has never been fully cleaned up and barrels of toxic waste are still found lying around.

Shalini Sharma, coordinator, Students for Bhopal-India, said, "We refuse to accept Dow’s presence in our country unless they clean up the site and own up the liabilities. In simple terms — ‘No Justice, No Business’." Over 20,000 people have died in Bhopal in the last 22 years and the death toll continues to rise by 10-15 every month.

There are still over 120,000 chronically-ill survivors desperately in need of medical attention. Union Carbide Corporation, from the time of the disaster to this day, had withheld vital medical information regarding the composition of the gas cloud, which has seriously impeded the medical care of survivors in Bhopal.

A group of more than 30 young people gathered outside Dow’s office in Noida, which displays a large and misleading signboard entitled Footwear International, but also bears a small Dow emblem on its walls, and demanded to know why the company was in hiding in the area. They carried with them pictures of gas victims and survivors and distributed pamphlets to those living and working in the area.

Posted by bhola at 09:52 AM | Comments (0)

December 03, 2006

When Bhopal became a gas chamber

Subodh Varma, Times of India, December 3, 2006

NEW DELHI: Twenty-two years since the leak of a deadly gas from the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal killed over 15,000 people, relatives of the victims and over 5 lakh survivors are still battling for compensation.

And it isn't just the hapless victims who have been kept waiting for all these years; those who heroically put their lives in danger to save others have fared no better. Brigadier N K Mayne and his wife Asha's is a case in point.

On December 2, 1984, Brigadier Mayne was woken up from his sleep by a call from the Bhopal district commissioner that something terrible had happened and people appeared to be collapsing due to ammonia-leak. Mayne rushed to the area next to the pesticide factory of Union Carbide. His doctor-wife Asha saw him almost 12 hours later — lying unconscious in hospital. Mayne recalls seeing hundreds of people rushing out of their homes, choking and vomiting, and complaining of burning eyes and stomach pain.

Many collapsed, unable to breathe. His wife, who now lives in Noida, says he immediately started calling up army units in and around Bhopal, asking them to send vehicles to the affected areas. Army jawans helped people into vehicles and transported them to nearby hospitals. Mayne worked in the poison-laden air for hours. Finally, with burning eyes and difficulty in breathing, he was rushed to the hospital.

Meanwhile, several suffering people came to his house, knowing that Asha was there. She says, "I didn't know what to do. Nobody knew what gas it was. It was not ammonia, because people don't start collapsing like that. I gave them water and got a few oxygen cylinders for those who were choking. But it didn't seem to help." By 8 in the morning she went to the government dispensary at Shahjahanabad where she worked.

The sight there was terrifying. "The whole street was full of people - some were lying on the road, unable to go further. I and another doctor distributed antacids and eye drops, and used up the oxygen. But the stream was endless."

Finally, in the afternoon, news of her husband reached her and she rushed to his side. Brig Mayne apparently recovered miraculously, though the recovery was to prove to be short-lived. Life soon became hard for the Mayne family.

They were transferred to various places, the two kids were growing up, the son had to miss his NDA exam - but these were just the normal kind of problems that other middle class folks face regularly. The main problem was that Brig Mayne started suffering from symptoms of what became established as MIC poisoning. He developed pulmonary oedema (water retention in lungs), muscular weakness, and severe gastritis.

He was in and out of hospital all the time. Finally, on July 2, 1989 he succumbed to the poisoning and weakening of his body. Dr Mayne's practice became the only source of income for the family apart from the pension. She says she had to visit Bhopal 3-4 times every year till as recently as last year in order to pursue the compensation claim.

All of 21 years after the tragedy and 17 years after her husband died, she finally got the second of two instalments in 2005.

Posted by bhola at 11:43 PM | Comments (0)

Bhopal gas leak survivors mourn 1984 victims

Indo-Asian News Service, December 3, 2006

Bhopal, Dec 3 (IANS) Survivors of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy Sunday observed the 22nd anniversary of the lethal leakage that killed thousands of people.

Several organisations, including the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangathan (BGPMUS), held a public meeting at the Yadgare Shahjahani Park and took a pledge 'not to allow repeat of Bhopal' while criticising multinational companies for 'playing with the lives of innocent people in third world countries'.

'Around 34,000 people have died due to the after effects and about two lakh people are constantly suffering. Another one lakh are temporarily or permanently disabled. So if Union Carbide is directly responsible for the deaths taking place within one month of the incident, then our government is also responsible for the deaths that took place due to the after effects,' said Abdul Jabbar, convener BGPMUS, a pressure group working for the cause of the victims.

Later around 1,000 gas victims, led by Jabbar, took out a rally from the park to reach the now defunct Union Carbide factory where they burnt the effigies of Warren Anderson, the then chairman of Union Carbide, wanted by Bhopal court on a charge of culpable homicide.

Hundreds others also mourned the disaster that occurred on the intervening night of December 2/3, 1984 when 40 tonnes of lethal Methyl-Iso-Cyanate spewed out of the Union Carbide's pesticide plant killing over 3,000 people instantly and maiming several thousand others for life. More than 15,000 people have died since then.

Another group of victims led by four survivors organisations - Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karamchari Sangh, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha, Bhopal Ki Awaaaz and Bhopal Group of Information and Action - also marched through the streets here shouting slogans like 'Anderson ko phaansi do, humko saaf paani do' (hang Anderson and give us clean drinking water) and reached the Union Carbide factory where they burnt the effigy of the company and Anderson.

They also held a prayer meeting in front of the plant and demanded adequate treatment for the survivors.

Posted by bhola at 06:09 PM | Comments (0)

December 3rd, another day, another atrocity

The Axis of Evel Knieval, December 3, 2006

During the early morning hours of 3 December 1984, a tank failure at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, spewed twenty-seven tons deadly methyl isocyanate (MIC) fumes into the air, killing thousands within a few hours and leaving hundreds of thousands more with debilitating ailments, including liver and kidney failure, respiratory ailments, menstrual disorders and blindness. The precise number of deaths has remained in dispute -- Carbide and the state of Madhya Pradesh claim that 3,800 died, while survivors of Bhopal have placed the figure closer to 8,000 within the first few weeks. Municipal workers who disposed of the bodies in mass graves or funeral pyres claim that the initial death count was at least 15,000. Whatever the actual figures, the dying has continued ever since. Over the past 22 years, over 20,000 more residents of Bhopal have died as a direct consequence of the 1984 leak.

Although it originally functioned as a pesticide plant, the Union Carbide facility in Bhopal failed to meet its high expecations, as India's farmers quite simply could not afford to buy the company's products. Although pesticide production had ceased during the early 1980s, tanks loaded with poisons like MIC remained on site. Cost-cutting measures by Union Carbide contributed to the degradation of the numerous safety mechanisms designed to prevent toxic leaks. When an employee error -- which Union Carbide continues to insist was an act of "deliberate sabotage" -- allowed water to back up into tank E610, at least four systems, including a vent-gas scrubber that could have tetoxified the leaking gas, were either broken or switched off. The water caused the chemicals to overheat, releasing the dense gases into a city that was completely unprepared for a disaster of this scope. Indeed, most residents of Bhopal were unaware of the chemicals being stored in their midst; Union Carbide had not informed city authorities of the potential dangers of MIC, and they had not even bothered to formulate an emergency plan in the event of a disaster.

As the toxic cloud bloomed, its 900,000 residents were thrown into complete panic. According to Champa Devi Shukla, a resident of Bhopal who survived the night of December 3,

it felt like somebody had filled our bodies up with red chillies, our eyes tears coming out, noses were watering, we had froth in our mouths. The coughing was so bad that people were writhing in pain. Some people just got up and ran in whatever they were wearing or even if they were wearing nothing at all. Somebody was running this way and somebody was running that way, some people were just running in their underclothes. People were only concerned as to how they would save their lives so they just ran.

Those who fell were not picked up by anybody, they just kept falling, and were trampled on by other people. People climbed and scrambled over each other to save their lives -- even cows were running and trying to save their lives and crushing people as they ran.

In 1989, Union Carbide agreed to a settlement that amounted to $470 million - less than a sixth of what the original suit requested. The settlement provided roughly $300-500 to each victim, an amount equal to a year's medical expenses for many of the leak's victims. In 2002 Kathy Hunt, Public Affairs specialist for Dow Chemical insisted that $500 was "plenty good for an Indian" and that Dow would not assume responsibility for the people killed and sickened by the 1984 disaster. Dow had purchased Union Carbide in 2001 for more than $10 billion.

The contamination of Bhopal has left a pernicious legacy. Soil tests in 1999 revealed that mercury levels around the plant ranged from 20,000 to six million times the expected amounts; benzene hexachloride is abundant as well. Lead and organochlorines have been detected in the breast milk of mothers in Bhopal. Thousands of miscarriages and "monstrous births" have occurred as well, and more than 50,000 Bhopalis are permanently disabled, unable to work or - in many cases - even leave their homes.

Warren Anderson, the CEO of Union Carbide in 1984, was indicted for manslaughter fifteen years ago. Arrested in India, he posted bail and absconded from the country. He now lives the life of a retired executive, with an exquisite home in the Hamptons.

Posted by bhola at 12:04 PM | Comments (0)

Tragedy haunts Bhopal gas victims

HEMENDER SHARMA, CNN-IBN, DECEMBER 3, 2006

PAIN CONTINUES: Both of Uzma’s kidneys have failed and her family cannot afford to continue her treatment. Watch video.

Bhopal Facts
Get the facts on the Bhopal Tragedy.

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): It has been 22 years since the Bhopal Gas tragedy occurred, but the lives of those who have survived has changed forever.

"I am fortunate to have survived the Bhopal Gas tragedy,” says a victim, Jeher Lal.

Born on December 3, 1984, Jeher got his name after methyl isocyanide, a gas that killed 3,000 people and affected several others on the same day that he was born.

His co-worker Gasmati was also born on that fateful day.

Jeher and Gasmati may be happy for having survived the tragedy but their troubles are far from over.

Both of them suffer from respiratory illnesses, which could have resulted from exposure to the gas.

Much of their Rs 50,000 compensation money was spent on medicines. And they work as labourers to earn a living now.

"I have problems while breathing but I can't stop working,” says Gasmati.

Another victim, Uzma was just two-years-old when the incident took place. A mother of a child now, she is already battling for her life as both of her kidneys have almost failed.

She hasn't found a donor yet and her family cannot afford to continue the treatment any longer.

"I am facing a lot of problems. Dialysis has to be done every week as there is no other way out,” says Uzma.

The compensation money sanctioned by the government to the victims may have dried out by now. But even after 22 years, the tragedy continues to haunt its victims in the form of slow-killer diseases.

With inputs from Jemima Rohekar.

Posted by bhola at 08:22 AM | Comments (0)

Gas victims take out rally in Bhopal

LALIT SHASTRI, THE HINDU, DECEMBER 3, 2006

It is the Government's duty to provide safe drinking water, they say

"Cancel all-religion prayer meet"
Extradition of Anderson demanded

GANDHIGIRI STYLE: Victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy take out a march to the Raj Bhavan on Saturday, demanding among other things clean drinking water and better medical facilities.PHOTO: A M FARUQUI

BHOPAL: The Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangathan, a group working for the cause of victims of the union carbide gas disaster, took out a peaceful procession here on Saturday to mark the 22nd anniversary of the disaster that struck the State capital on the midnight of December 2 and 3, 1984.

The Sangathan's convener, Abdul Jabbar, led the procession, which began from Yaadgaar-e-Shahjehani Park in the old city. The procession was originally scheduled to culminate at the Raj Bhavan but it was terminated at the Jehangirabad Square, where the police blocked the road.

It was a silent procession in the "Gandhigiri" style, popularised by the film "Lage Raho Munna Bhai." Women in large numbers joined the procession and carried portraits of Mahatma Gandhi.

The Sangathan drew the attention of the authorities to the plight of the victims, especially due to groundwater pollution caused by the toxic waste at the abandoned Carbide plant.

It urged the Governor and other State dignitaries to cancel this year's all-religion prayer meeting scheduled for Sunday.

Mr. Jabbar said it was the Government's responsibility to provide safe drinking water to the victims.

The Sangathan had demanded the extradition of former Union Carbide chairman Warren Anderson and severe punishment for those responsible for the disaster.

Posted by bhola at 08:18 AM | Comments (0)

Protests against Dow Chemical for 1984 Bhopal Gas tragedy

THE HINDU, NEW YORK, DECEMBER 3, 2006

New York, Dec. 3 (PTI): Scores of campaigners seeking justice for victims of the 1984 Bhopal Gas tragedy, one of the world's worst industrial catastrophe, held demonstrations in pouring rain near the Indian Consulate here demanding that Dow Chemical take responsibility for clearing up the disaster site and provide adequate compensation for survivors.

Dow Chemical is now owner of Union Carbide from whose plant the deadly gas had leaked on December 2, 1984, killing and injuring thousands.

They also held mock funerals of Dow Chemical leadership on Friday.

The Campaign, an umbrella organisation on which several human rights bodies are represented, said similar funeral marches will be organised in seven cities across the United States over next six days and its members would hold candle vigils to remember the victims.

Besides, its supporters in Chicago and Washington would send members of the Board of Dow Chemical orange jumpsuits that prisoners wear to highlight the fugitive status of Union Carbide in the Indian courts.

The activists say Carbide's owner Dow Chemical is to blame for daily deaths in Bhopal due to its refusal to clean up the disaster site and provide adequate care to the survivors.

Ryan Bodanyi, Students for Bhopal US Coordinator, said Dow's 2001 purchase of Union Carbide transferred legal liability and moral culpability for the clean-up of contaminated waste in Bhopal to Dow.

Posted by bhola at 08:16 AM | Comments (0)

Chief Minister seeks peoples' cooperation

BHOPAL CENTRAL CHRONICLE, DECEMBER 3, 2006

Bhopal, Dec 2: The Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan has paid tributes to the martyrs of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy on the eve of its 22nd anniversary. Recalling the gravity of the disaster, which played a havoc on the intervening night of December 2 and 3 in 1984, Chouhan said that it killed thousands of people in Bhopal city. The survivors of the tragedy fell prey to a number of diseases due to their exposure to poisonous gas. The Chief Minister added that even after 22 years of the chemical disaster, lakhs of people are still suffering from various mental and physical disorders and agonies.

The Chief Minister further said in his message that the state government is making concerted efforts for the treatment of affected people. A number of works relating to industrial safety, protection of environment and economic rehabilitation of gas affected people have been carried out in the gas affected localities. Chouhan pointed out that supply of clean drinking water is still a challenge before the government in the gas-affected localities. For this, the state government is providing full financial support.

The Chief Minister has called upon the government and non-government organisations and citizens to extend cooperation to help mitigate the sufferings of the gas affected people.

BHEL employees observe the day

In Commemoration of Bhopal Gas Tragedy, BHEL observed a 2 minute silence during Central Safety Committee Meeting on Saturday to mourn the sad demise of departed souls in the Bhopal Gas Tragedy of December 3, 1984. This meeting was convened by Safety and Environment Engineering Department and presided by MC Prasad, General Manager (HR & SFX) and Chairman of the Committee. The meeting was attended by all the Product Group Heads of the plant.

The meeting was commenced after the 2 minute mourning. MC Prasad, Chairman of the Central Safety Committee was welcomed and the meeting proceeded to review the status of various issues related to Safety, Environment and Occupational Health. Prasad briefed the members about the forthcoming Surveillance Audit of ISO-1400 and OHSAS-18001 scheduled from December 11-13, 2006. SA Pillai, Chief Safety and Environment Officer briefed about the status of various issues.

'Aasaan' produces documentary

A 27 minute documentary film entitled "Dreams to disaster and aftermath" has been produced to mark the 22nd anniversary of Bhopal gas tragedy by a group of students pursuing their studies in the first year in National Law Institute University (NLIU). The film has been directed by talented Shubham Khare and is produced by a group of ten students named 'Aasaan'. The film was screened last night on the occasion of 23rd moot court competition of Bar Council of India (BCI) at NLIU.

All the students involved in the making of film are born after the gas tragedy occurred in the year 1984. Since the group has a complete chapter on the gas tragedy in the first year law course, they viewed the chemical disaster with a different angle and have presented the aftermath of the disaster and sprit of the affected people in a appreciable manner. Further, film narrates the strong determination of the affected people of Bhopal towards life even after so much hardship.

As per the director of the film Shubham was as inspired to make such a film by his professor Rajiv Khare. Smriti Pradhan has assisted Khare in the direction whereas the script and screenplay was written by Ashish Mukhi, Swati Ray and Shruti Rawat. Research and selection of the places was done by Niharika Maske and Shilpa Bijoria. The film has been edited by Ashish Mukhi and Shubham, the score was composed by Shivendu Joshi and Swapnil Gupta.

With a view to present their view point before the people, efforts are being made by the group 'Aasaan' to air it through local TV channels. The group also plans to produce a documentary on a village, which has never engaged in any kind of litigation and has never come across to the court matters.

Posted by bhola at 07:56 AM | Comments (0)

December 02, 2006

Bhopal gas victims stage torch rally

Indo Asian News Service, December 2, 2006

Bhopal, Dec 2 (IANS) Hundreds of victims of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy took out a torchlight rally here Saturday night demanding adequate relief and rehabilitation for the survivors of the lethal leakage that killed thousands of people.

The participants of the rally, taken out on the eve of the 22nd anniversary of the tragedy, also demand extradition of Warren Anderson, the then chairman of Union Carbide Corporation that owned the plant from where the leakage occurred.

The leak of 40 tonnes of lethal gas on the night of Dec 2-3, 1984 killed more than 3,000 people instantly and thousands more in subsequent years. The tragedy also left thousands maimed for life from inhaling the poisonous gas.

Shouting slogans 'Ladenge, jeetenge' (We will fight, we will win), the victims led by four survivors' organisations - Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karamchari Sangh, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha, Bhopal Ki Awaaaz and Bhopal Group of Information and Action - marched from the city's Ganesh Temple square at Chhola Road to the now defunct Union Carbide factory.

'We want justice. Thousands of people have died due to the after effects of the poisonous gases and over two lakh people are constantly suffering,' said Rachna Dhingra, coordinator International campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB).

'Victims are still battling deadly diseases and children born after the tragedy are suffering from psychiatric disorders and stunted growth. But the government is doing nothing for their medical care and economic rehabilitation.'

The victims will also take out a rally and hold a prayer meeting on Sunday in front of Union Carbide factory.

Besides this, a number of programmes, including an all-religion prayer meeting and burning of effigies of Warren Anderson will also mark the observance of the disaster's anniversary.

The state government is organising an all-religion prayer at the Central Library where Governor Balram Jakhar is scheduled to take part.

Posted by bhola at 08:08 PM | Comments (0)

22 years of tearful remembrance

BHOPAL CENTRAL CHRONICLE, DECEMBER 2, 2006

Bhopal, Dec 2: ''We do not have any sensational news for you, we have the sorrow and suffering of the Gas Tragedy victims and the documents linked with a long battle for justice. But is anyone still interested about those affected by the world's worst industrial disaster?'' When social activist Abdul Jabbar raises this poignant question his eyes reveal the fatigue and sadness of the past 22 years during which he has been involved with the case.

Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangathan Convenor Jabbar needs to wipe his clouded eyes repeatedly as he was also affected by the methyl isocyanate that leaked from the Union Carbide India Ltd (UCIL) factory here on the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984, immediately slew thousands and affected lakhs.

Responding to a query, he says, ''I am tired and also vexed but not disappointed. I will continue championing the cause of the victims' rights. Over the past 22 years, 34,000 persons died as a consequence of the inhalation exposure. One-lakh persons were either temporarily or permanently handicapped. To add insult to injury, those responsible are yet to be brought to book.''

Meanwhile, Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Babulal Gaur, also a former chief minister, told that the state government is extending all possible assistance and treatment to the victims. ''I was myself a witness to the tragedy and therefore the rehabilitation of those affected is my foremost priority. Time and again we have requested the Centre for aid and Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh's stance has been co-operative. The Centre should either help in securing more compensation from Union Carbide or sanction financial assistance itself,'' he feels.

Pointing out that Singh agreed in principle on the demand for doling out aid to the remaining 20 wards of this city, the minister adds that the Centre has been urged for help in constructing an international-level memorial in front of the now-closed UCIL unit and safe removal of toxic substances in the soil of the premises.

''Treatment of victims is done free of cost at the Bhopal Memorial super-speciality hospital at Karond and related medical institutions. No complaint has been made to me in that regard,'' Gaur says while denying any proposal to wind up his department. On December 1, 1987, the Central Bureau of Investigation filed a charge sheet in the district court against a total of 12 accused including the then Union Carbide Corporation chairman Warren Anderson, the then UCIL chairman Keshav Mahindra, managing director Vijay Gokhale and Union Carbide Eastern, Hong Kong. The bench declared Anderson as an absconder.

Accused RB Roychoudhry, the then assistant works manager, is deceased. The case is being argued in the chief judicial magistrate's court for about two decades and in February Mahindra and eight others together appeared before the bench for the first time.

''Hearings ought to take place every day. When the fake passports case, in which (underworld don Abu Salem's starlet girlfriend) Monica Bedi is one of the accused, can be heard regularly why not the criminal case relating to the world's worst industrial disaster?'' feels Jabbar.

Mayor Sunil Sood paid homage to the victims of dreaded 'Gas Tragedy' on Saturday. Bihar Sanskritik Parishhad, BHEL has decided to organise a two minutes silence followed by homage to the gas victims on December 3 at Saraswati Aradhana Kendra, Berkhera. WCR Indian Scouts and Guides G.No.1 is going to offer a 'Flowery Wreath', followed by two minute silence and homage to the gas victims at Shaheed Smarak on December 3 at 8:30am. The 22nd anniversary of Gas Tragedy would be observed as 'Demand Day' by Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila & Purush Sangharsh Morcha. Member of the Morcha would hang the effigy of Warren Anderson and would also present a memorandum to the governor, chief minister and gas relief minister. Gandhiwadi Jankalyan Samiti under the leadership of Kallu Pehlwan is going to burn the effigy of Warren Anderson at Itwara Square on December 3 at 11:00am. After paying homage to the gas victims, food would also be provided to the poor. Shiv Sena offered homage to the gas victims at Bhawani Chowk premises on Saturday. The party workers also burnt the effigy of Warren Anderson. Sena demanded that 22 years have passed and union government has not fulfilled its promises.

Posted by bhola at 08:07 PM | Comments (0)

Children of Bhopal gas victims suffer from deformity

Sanjay Sharma, Indo-Asian News Service, December 2, 2996

Bhopal, Dec 2 (IANS) Medical research is desperately needed, especially into the possible genetic and reproductive after effects, of the lethal gas leak in Bhopal exactly 22 years ago that killed more than 3,000 people instantly and thousands more in subsequent years.

Despite the neurological, hormonal and mental health problems that the survivors are facing besides the genetic damage to the children born to survivors, these crucial areas have been severely under-studied, allege rights activists, who say, 'This has lead to unsystematic treatment of gas victims.'

'Lack of research into the possible genetic and reproductive ramifications of gas exposure, and now of exposure to contaminated water, have seriously marred efforts to respond to the effects of poisonous gases on the next generation in those affected by the gas leak,' said activist Rashida Bi who is a gas victim herself and associated with the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB).

On Dec 2-3 night in 1984, 40 tonnes of lethal Methyl-Iso-Cyanate gas spewed out of the Union Carbide Corporation's pesticide plant here. The tragedy also left thousands maimed for life from inhaling the poisonous gas.

Women who were pregnant during or following the disaster had extremely high rates of spontaneous abortion. A 1985 study by Medico Friends Circle (MFC) found that in addition to spontaneous abortion and stillbirths, pregnant women exhibited diminished foetal movements and menstrual disturbances. Foetuses that survived the gas disaster suffered from severe malformations. Birth defects continue to occur among families affected by the gas leak and contamination of water at a higher-than-average rate even now.

Union Carbide allegedly constructed the factory knowing that the storage and treatment methods for waste were likely to fail and contaminate ground water. According to local groups monitoring the water quality, contamination from the factory has now spread to 16 wards and affects an estimated 16,000-20,000 people.

A study carried out by Sambhavna Trust Clinic showed that children conceived and born after the disaster to affected parents were significantly different from children of the same age born to unexposed parents. The children were shorter, thinner, lighter, and had smaller heads, said activist Satinath Sarangi, who runs the Sambhavna Trust Clinic that treats the affected in the gas-hit areas.

Also, children of exposed parents showed abnormal growth in their upper bodies that were disproportionately smaller than their lower bodies.

'The problem in the second generation due to gas exposure is one that will affect tens of thousands, and potentially many more in the future, and it needs to be addressed immediately. Yet the government has only very scanty information on this matter and no plans for the health or special assistance needed for them,' said Champa Devi another activist. She is the recipient of the American Public Health Association's Goldman Environmental Award for her work among gas victims over the years.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) initiated 18 studies in the aftermath of the Bhopal disaster. However, despite findings of long-term damage, these studies were all prematurely ended within 10 years just as conclusive evidence of damage was beginning to show on the offspring of survivors.

'Most studies done by ICMR were terminated as early as 1989 and the rest by 1994 without reviewing the collected data and pleas for continuing the studies were ignored. The ICMR's full report on Bhopal too has still not been released,' said Sarangi.

'Research done in the past is insufficient and key aspects of the disaster and its aftermath have been ignored in research projects. Now, new issues have arisen necessitating fresh research. This includes exposure to water contamination among those living in the vicinity of the factory site,' Sarangi told IANS.

The Fact Finding Mission on Bhopal found high levels of chemicals in the breast milk of women affected by water contamination. Studies conducted by the Sambhavna Trust Clinic indicated that about half of the people living in the contaminated area were suffering from multiple symptoms.

ICMR studies, although prematurely terminated, did show that children of exposed mothers had delayed physical and mental development and lower values for anthropometric parameters such as height and mid-arm circumference.

Posted by bhola at 05:54 PM | Comments (0)

Bhopal gas tragedy survivors decry government apathy

Daily India, December 2, 2006

Bhopal, Dec 2 (ANI): Bhopal gas tragedy survivors continue to lament the Government's denial of justice to them, 22 years after the incident.

"Around 34,000 people have died due to the after effects and about two lakh people are constantly suffering.

Another one lakh are temporarily or permanently disabled. So if Union Carbide is directly responsible for the deaths taking place within one month of the incident, then our government is also responsible for the deaths that took place due to the after effects," sadi Abdul Jabbar, a convener of the Committee on Women Victims of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy.

Sali Nath Pandey, an activist of Bhopal Group for Information and Action, said the Government is not sincere about bringing the culprits to book.

"Those who suffered in the Bhopal gas tragedy are putting up a fight against the high agencies of the world and that is the reason the fight has been continuing for so long, the justice seems so difficult.

The survivors find it difficult to get treatment, medicines and pension. This fight is among unequals," said Pandey.

Victims of the tragedy are still battling deadly diseases. Doctors say many survivors -some from a generation born after the disaster - still suffer from deep psychiatric disorders and stunted growth. Thousands of women have severe gynaecological problems.

Activists say many gas-affected women have even fed their babies poisoned breast milk.

A demand for the return of Warren Anderson, former Union Carbide chairman, India, and for the trial in an Indian court, is growing.

Several non-government organizations and Greenpeace activists have launched protests demanding the cleaning up of the Union Carbide Factory site.

Union Carbide began cleanup work at the site after the incident, spending some two million dollar.

In 1984, Union Carbide accepted moral responsibility for the tragedy and established a 100 million dollar charitable trust fund to build a hospital for victims.

It also paid 470 million dollars to the Indian Government as compensation in 1989. The victims, on an average, received 25,000 rupees in case of illness and 100,000 rupees or so in case of a death in the family.

On the night of December 2, 1984, tonnes of a toxic gas leaked from the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, killing 3,800 people on the spot and injuring thousands more.

The entire MIC (Methyl Isocyanate) affected area spread over 56 wards and having a population of more than six lacs.

Union Carbide has since been taken over by Dow Chemical.(ANI)

Posted by bhola at 05:53 PM | Comments (0)

December 01, 2006

No more Bhopals

Somnath Mukherjee, The Statesman, December 1, 2006

On 26 July, 2006, 34-year-old Sunil Verma hung himself from the ceiling of his room. He was wearing a T-shirt which said: “No more Bhopals”. It was 22 years ago on the intervening night of 2-3 December that a cloud of lethal gas from Union Carbide’s (UC) pesticide factory took the life of his parents and five of his siblings. Sunil was one of many victims that the world’s worst industrial disaster continues to claim after more than two decades. Today, 150,000 people continue to live with mental and physiological damage besides the 20,000 who have succumbed to them.

Was Sunil’s death a tragedy? The editor of a local newspaper in Boston had objected to my usage of the phrase “Bhopal gas tragedy”. Tragedy, he had said, connotes a sense of inevitability, a mysterious hand of destiny and fate. I stood corrected. There was nothing inevitable about either the gas leak of 1984, or Sunil’s death. The seeds of the disaster were sown the day the site of UC’s plant was chosen in the midst of a densely populated poor neighbourhood despite the large amounts of lethal chemicals needed during the manufacture of Sevin. Storing inordinately large amounts of methylisocyanate (MIC) in the plant, cutting corners in safety mechanisms, importing unproven technologies and a general neglect due to less than desired profits, precipitated the disaster on that wintry night.

The disaster was just as preventable as Sunil’s death. It might be fanciful to indulge in thinking about a societal arrangement where these could actually be prevented. A society where the trickling down of benefits actually broadens over time, where the risks are borne in proportion to the benefits received, where safety is everyone’s prerogative irrespective of national origin or economic status, where a democratically elected government is at least for the people even if it is not by the people, where justice is not served in proportion to one’s wealth and political clout, where each human life receives equal dignity, where Sunil the survivor’s life is as important as that of Warren Anderson, the contemporary CEO of UC.

While the jurisdiction of a state stops at its political boundary, transnational corporations (TNC) straddle the spaces beyond the reach of state apparatus. Institutions like the WTO, IMF and the World Bank serve the dual purpose of moulding the inchoate international structures along with pounding the uneven ground to ease the TNC’s quest for market, cheap labour and raw material. The disproportionate occupation of the policy space by such institutions de-escalates the priorities of the larger citizenry when weighed against corporate interests.

Union Carbide merged with Dow Chemicals in February 2001, which refuses to accept the liabilities and the criminal charges facing UC. The absence of a comprehensive legal framework within which TNCs operate is demonstrated by the fact that the Government of India (GoI), before appealing in its own courts, sued UC in the US in April 1985, only to be advised to go back.

The Bhopal Gas Disaster Act of March 1985 conferred the exclusive right on the GoI to represent all claimants and act as the parens patriae. The death toll from the gas leak kept climbing and the survivors waited helpless and uncompensated, while litigations went on in the Supreme Court. It was only after 5 years that a settlement was reached between the GoI and UC to pay a compensation of $470 million closing all court cases pending against Union Carbide. Only the criminal case against Warren Anderson was reinstated in October 1991. Why did the GoI settle for a fraction of its original claim of $3.3 billion? People’s sense of justice being hurt, the meagre compensation and the apparent impunity of UC led several individuals and survivor groups to file a class action law suit in the Federal Court of New York in November 1999, which was summarily dismissed by Judge John Keenan. In November 2001, the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the class action law suit, only to be dismissed again by the same judge.

While the litigations became more complex, the stockpiles of chemicals lying in the abandoned UC site in Bhopal slowly leached into the groundwater, irreversibly contaminating it with dangerous heavy metals, pesticides, volatile organo-chlorines and halo-organics. The marginalised urban communities that were poisoned by drinking the water fell through the interstices of state institutions and corporate power. It is rather ironic that while some interstitial spaces abet the power of the TNCs, others take away the safety nets of marginalised populations. It was finally in March 2004 that the Appeals Court of New York ruled that the district court had the power to order UC to clean up the contaminated site of the factory and in the next month the case was moved away from Judge Keenan’s court.

On 13 July, 2004, the US government rejected the GoI’s request to extradite Anderson. So far Dow Chemicals and Anderson have been able to dodge the judiciary of both the US and India, successfully pitting one against the other. As late as January 2005, the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Bhopal has asked Dow Chemicals to explain why Union Carbide should not be present for the ongoing criminal proceedings against it.

“Corporate social responsibility” is a commodified social space created by the corporations where social responsibility can be dispensed at their own terms and used to earn social credits with an eye towards the bottom line.

Dow invested $30 million in its advertising campaign called “The Human element” as an element in the periodic table. Certainly, the human element has been missing in how the composition of MIC has been guarded as a trade secret to this day, against the life and
wellbeing of thousands. Dow donated Rs. 2.2 crore to Jimmy Carter’s foundation, Habitat for Humanity, to build homes for the needy near Mumbai while turning a blind eye to homes and hearths in Bhopal that it has destroyed for the past 22 years. Such philanthropic acts also belie its history of being the manufacturer of inhuman substances like napalm and agent-orange, used by the US Army in the Vietnam war.

In India’s brave new phase of industrial modernisation, we should take some lessons from history on the 22nd anniversary of the Bhopal disaster and find mechanisms and institute structures to secure ourselves against its repetition.

In what Jack Doyle calls a “a global toxic trespass” in his book, Trespass against us, almost every 10 seconds a new chemical compound is invented and an average of three enter the market everyday. These chemicals go into every new gadget that make modern living “convenient”. Long-term effects of all of these chemicals on the human body and environment cannot possibly be well understood. Innocuous everyday items like sofa-sets, non-stick frying pans, children’s soft sleep-wear have carcinogenic chemicals that make it safer, convenient and comfortable to use. A study by the Environmental Working Group published in July 2005 documents the presence of 287 chemicals in the umbilical cord blood of babies born in US hospitals, of which 187 are known carcinogens.

Why are people carrying such heavy body burdens without their knowledge or consent? Perhaps, Sunil was living with a burden too heavy to carry. He chose death to escape it, leaving behind a warning for the world ~ No more Bhopals. Perhaps he knew that we all live in Bhopal.

(The author is an electrical engineer based in Boston)

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