This year marks the 20th anniversary of the world’s worst industrial disaster. In the middle of the night on December 3, 1984, more than 27 tons of poisonous gases leaked from a storage tank at the Union Carbide pesticide factory into the heart of the Indian city of Bhopal, immediately killing 8,000 people. According to journalistic accounts many died in their sleep, but others ran from the cloud filling city streets, weeping, gasping, vomiting and choking. The city’s small hospitals and clinics were overwhelmed with victims. Since that night, more than 12,000 people have died as a direct result of the accident while 150,000 more suffer chronic health impacts, ranging from cancer and tuberculosis to birth defects and chronic fevers. At least 50,000 are too sick to work for a living.

Following the disaster, U.S. owned Union Carbide fled India leaving behind a factory site seriously contaminated with toxic wastes and obsolete pesticide sheds and structures. Multiple studies have found mercury, nickel and other cancer-causing chemicals in the local environment, and many of the same toxins in the breast milk of women who live near the factory zone.

Union Carbide, now a fully owned subsidiary of Dow, has refused to accept responsibility for their negligence. Two decades later, survivors continue to suffer the consequences. On April 14th, as part of the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB) delegation, two of Bhopal’s victims began a 40-day multi-city tour of the U.S. to bring attention to the continuing struggles of the Bhopal survivors as well as raise awareness about corporate accountability, persistent poisons, and environmental justice. In addition, the tour marks the beginning of a yearlong series of events building towards the 20th anniversary of this disaster on December 3, 2004.