CASE STUDY:-

Bhopal Tragedy
It was the night of Dec. 2, 1984 when the gas containing methyl isocynate (MIC) and
hydrogen cyanide leaked from the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal (India). It was the
world’s worst chemical accident. More than ten thousand people died as a result of
breathing the gases. The aftermath of the leak is still there; people are dying today because
they were exposed to the toxic gases which did not kill them at that time but crippled them. More
than fifty thousand suffered some sort of health damage. There were many spontaneous abortions
and stillbirths. An estimated sixty thousand people sued Union Carbide for compensation for 10
billion US dollars. Union Carbide settled for 470 million dollars in 1991 and left India. The
workers of the Union Carbide plant at Bhopal say that disaster was a case of negligence at the
plant because before the disaster occurred,
there were problems with pipelines that developed breaches due to corrosion; also many
instruments did not function properly. Not only the maintenance was poor, the plant was
not well designed for safety. The poisonous MIC released from the plant was carried by
prevailing winds to the south and east of city. These areas are highly congested where
most of people are poor, working as labourers at the Union Carbide plant and other
nearby factories. Since the leak was in the night the gas went undetected by the affected
people who remained asleep and thus had a maximum exposure. Many died in their sleep,
others ran to safer places, but died in following days and weeks. The Government of India
organised relief measures and medical treatment. It was found that medical treatment was
ineffective because doctors were not familiar with the toxicity information of MIC. As the
news of the disaster spread all over the world, Union Carbide India Ltd. came forward and
accepted responsibility for the accident. The parent company of Union Carbide India Ltd.
is Union Carbide Inc. U.S.A. It refused to accept the legal responsibility for the Union
Carbide India Ltd. The question of compensation and settlement of other issues became a
controversy. Ultimately, Government of India decided to file the suit in United States
Courts. The United States Courts refused to hear the case and it was then transferred to
Indian Courts. Warren Anderson, the then Chairman of Union Carbide refused to appear
in Indian Court. Recently, in the District Court in Bhopal, a case was filed to change the
charges against Anderson from culpable homicide to rash negligence. The court rejected
the case. It is worth mentioning that families of those who were killed by gas leak were
paid a compensation of US $1250 per person whereas in case of Exxon Valdez Oil spill in
Alaska, USA the sea otter (aquatic mammals) were kept alive by feeding them with fresh
lobsters costing thousands of dollars per day. India and USA have an Extradition Treaty
and any criminal can be brought to justice in either courts. This has not happened in case
of Anderson. Warren Anderson ignored the summons from Bhopal Court to appear, the
reason being that he could not be traced. Greenpeace recently announced that it has
succeeded in locating Anderson in Long Island, New York. Meanwhile, there have been
protests both from within India and by international NGOs for the cause of Bhopal victims.
There have been hunger strikes by the victims recently at New Delhi Rallies of protestors
organised before the Parliament demanded extradition of Warren Anderson to India to
face trial. Union Carbide was recently acquired by Dow Chemicals. While Dow Chemicals
has taken over the assets and liabilities of Union Carbide everywhere, they have refused
to accept the liability of Bhopal. Recently, the gas victims sent brooms to the head office of
Dow Chemicals telling them that they have a great deal of mess to clean up in Bhopal. It
is reported too that the victims of Bhopal tragedy, who attended Johannesburg Earth
Summit, handed over a broom to the President of Dow Chemicals who also attended the
Summit.