Bhopal, India: 34 Years of Pollution
A little after midnight on December 3rd, 1984, an estimated 40 tons of deadly methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas flooded from the confines of Plant Number C of the Union Carbide factory and into the air of Bhopal, India. According to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, most people are able to smell MIC vapors at levels as low as 2 to 5 parts per million. However, significant exposure to the gas can be irritating to the eyes and respiratory systems. Any more contact to high vapor concentrations “may cause severe pulmonary edema and ingest to the alveolar walls of the lungs and death”. (6) On the night of the MIC leak, the gas quickly condensed in the atmosphere, and sunk to ground level where families were sleeping, unaware of the danger they were in. In the first few hours, many innocent lives were lost. As the gas was inhaled, it was reacting to the water in the victims’ bodies, forcing blood to pour in through the tiny spaces in their lungs, making the simple act of breathing impossible. People fled from their homes frantically gasping for air. However, those running from the city were only encouraging their deaths. With every breath taken in, their lungs became swollen which only made breathing more difficult and before long bodies were falling in the midst of the chaos. (8) Those that desperately ran for the hospitals were no better off. Doctors and medical staff were frantic to understand what was happening and how best to treat those suffering. A documentary done by National Geographic explained how little could be done because the doctors were unaware about what had been leaked into the atmosphere because Union Carbide was so hesitant to reveal its deadly fault. When the truth was finally unveiled, doctors did not know how to treat their patients because they were not properly equipped for a situation like this. (8) The number of victims grew in the early hours of the morning. According to an article entitled, ‘Poisoned Water Haunts Bhopal 25 Years after Chemical Accident’ by author Sara Goodman, 3,000 people in the city of Bhopal were killed in the first number of hours following the leak. Today, the death toll estimates over 15,000 lives lost because of this horrific industrial disaster, and the victims of the Bhopal gas leak and the city’s environment are still affected. (7)
34 years later: children are still born with brain damage, missing palates, and contorted limbs because of the exposure their parents’ have had to the air and water, both of which are severely corrupted by the gas leak. (7) Cancer rates are ten times greater today, and neurological destruction and disordered menstrual cycles for women are significantly more common. With each passing year, the number of abortions continues to escalate, as well as the many documented psychological issues that are because of the impact this tragic event has had on the people and their once beautiful home. (5) And in terms of how this severe pollution has affected the environment of Bhopal, the tragedies seem endless.
Even when the plant first opened in 1970 it was a major source of environmental pollution in Bhopal, India. Its entire engineering was a threat. By using solar evaporation ponds to dispense waste, the water sources were immediately filled with pollutants. 250 hand-pumps around the plant were painted with new red signs that declared that the water provided was not fit for consumption. But because of the lack of another convenient source for water, most people were left with no option but to drink the water from the pumps. This water that is still provided to communities today has been described as severely discolored, with traces of oil in it, and difficult to swallow because of how bitter it is. The people experience severe and permanent health changes, many who are not strong enough to carry fresh water back to their homes. Even those who weren’t exposed to the gas leak are impacted by the pollution in the water, experiencing issues like halted menstrual cycles in young woman, pain in their lower back and joints, immune-system complications and reproductive disorders. (7)
Four years prior to the MIC leak, there was a reported leak in a field storage tank that held hydrochloric acid. This acid was escaping into the soil, but there was no further mention of the pollution outside from the general report. In March of 1982, there was another report that expressed concern about a leak in one of the solar evaporation ponds and an emergency pond. (7) According to the documents entitled, ‘Clouds of Injustice’, published by Amnesty International in 2004, there was another message one month later that stated that “continued leakage from the evaporation pond (was) causing great concern”. And in May of that same year, an operational safety survey concluded that the factory was ill fit to safely run and that the “naphthol spillage is difficult to control but general pile of old and oily drums, old pipe, pools of oil on ground, etc., create unnecessary fire and access problems in the area”. (7)
1989, five years post MIC leak: several preliminary tests were conducted using solid and liquid samples that were drawn from the various land-fill areas and polluted treatment pits inside Union Carbide. The solid samples were found to contain naphthalene in substantial quantities, and the liquid samples were contaminated with naphthol, as well as high traces of Sevin, rates too high to be considered safe by the Indian Standards Institution’s criterions for land disposal. Both of the liquid and solid samples were also found to be extremely toxic to the marine life in the water sources, especially for the fish that communities depend on as a food source. (7)
Greenpeace completed a series of studies that looked at the toxic contaminations at the now abandoned Union Carbide factory and published an article in November of 1999 describing its findings. Samples of solid wastes, soils, and groundwaters were taken from within and surrounding the plant. These samples were tested to determine if there was contamination still active, with the results revealing that there were “hot-spot” areas of severe contamination. (7) The chemicals found in these sites included carbon tetrachloride, chloroform, trichloroethene, tetrachloroethene, dichlorobenzene, and the most toxic being carcinogenic — each ranging in concentrations from five to over six hundred times the limits recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
In January 2002, Srishti and Toxics Link, a Delhi-based environmental non-governmental organization, found high rates of contamination in vegetables grown around the plant site, but also a bio-concentration of contaminations in breast milk samples taken from women in surrounding communities. (7)
‘Bhopal Gas Tragedy Still Haunts India’, an article published by editor and journalist Neeta Lal in 2017 explains how the city is still dealing with all of these issues today. A survey completed by Amnesty International highlights how there is toxic material is still embedded in heaps at the factory. A report released by a U.K.-based Bhopal Medical Appel and the Sambhavna Clinic in 2009, and written by author Colin Toogood describes how a majority of the plant’s site is full of toxic waste by saying, “there are parts of the factory where the soil you walk on is 100 percent toxic waste, and there are areas where you still see pools of mercury on the ground.” (1) Every day, there are still people who die because of this poison in the groundwater. It sits in piles of waste that leeches into three ponds and several other pumps surrounding the factory. She stresses how the world’s worst industrial disaster, being the gas leak of 1984 in Bhopal, still remains a strict lesson in need for firmer environmental laws and practices to oversee hazardous wastes and its industries. Yet, there has been no action taken that suggests that this will happen. And what is worse is that as time continues to pass without these harder regulations, the pollution continues to effect innocent lives. Many lawsuits and political actions have been taken to stress the need for such intervention — those who fight to have the plant site cleaned of pollutants, those who feel that Union Carbide owes compensation to the many lives that are still experiencing effects because of the gas leak, and those that wish to see a change in government policy and environmental action, but sadly there has been little to no adherence by the government. Politicians question how best to clean the site, what to do with the high amounts of waste, and who should be required to pay for the intervention. These debates have continued for a series of years, as those in Bhopal are forced to bear the weight of the pollution all on their own. The gas leak of 1984 has corrupted the lives of more than 600,000 people. (7) The once beautiful, enriched environment of Bhopal, India has been forever tainted by the pollution from this tragedy. There has been no closure for these victims, no change for them to depend on. 34 years later and there are people dying because of this contamination. As a society, we need to raise awareness of the issue in Bhopal, India and fight for the lives of those suffering. Until there are changes made to address this issue of toxic waste and pollution, the lives that were stolen on the night of December 3rd, 1984 will not have closure — something they rightfully deserve.
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