Pollution Essay: The Bhopal Gas Tragedy

1021 Words5 Pages

INTRODUCTION:

The Bhopal disaster or Bhopal gas tragedy was an industrial accident. It happened at a Union Carbide subsidiary pesticide plant in the city of Bhopal, India. On 3 December 1984, the plant released 42 tonnes of toxic methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas, exposing more than 500,000 people to toxic gases.
A mixture of poisonous gases flooded the city, causing great panic as people woke up with a burning sensation in their lungs. Thousands died immediately from the effects of the gas. Many were trampled in the panic that followed. The first official immediate death toll was 2,259. Another estimate is that 8,000 died within two weeks, that an additional 8,000 have since died from gas-related diseases.
The Bhopal disaster is frequently cited as the world 's worst industrial disaster. The International Medical Commission on Bhopal was established in 1993 to respond to the long term health effects of the disaster. HAPPENINGS THAT LED TO THE DISASTER:

The plant in Bhopal where the disaster happened started to produce 'Carbaryl ' in 1977. Carbaryl is mainly used as an insecticide. At first, the production was 2,500 tonnes per year. This was no problem, as the plant had been designed for an …show more content…

Court of Appeals upheld a lower court 's ruling that "UCC’s participation was limited and its involvement in plant operations terminated long before the accident....the UOI [Union of India] controlled the terms of the agreements and precluded UCC from exercising any authority to 'detail design, erect and commission the plant, ' which was done independently over the period from 1972 to 1980 by UCIL process design engineers....The preliminary process design information furnished by UCC could not have been used to construct the plant. Construction required the detailed process design and engineering data prepared by hundreds of Indian engineers, process designers and sub-contractors..." Please click here to read the U.S. Court of Appeals complete 1987

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