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A toxic legacy
Published 02nd December 2009 - 8 comments - 770 views -
Today it happened to read an article about the ‘legacy’ of the Bhopal disaster. For those who do not know the incident, in 1984 a gas leak from a chemical plant that was owned by multinational caused the death of 15000 people in Bhopal India. The article (The Guardian 2/12/2009 p.20 article by Randeep Ramesh), refers to two studies that found that 25 years after the incident the groundwater remains toxic in a range of two miles around the plant and thus is poisoning the local society. In fact, the water pollution is 40 times higher than the Indian standards mention. Moreover, another impact of the pollution is that one out of twenty five children is born with a congenital defect, while even more worrying is the fact that according to campaigners 8000 tonnes of carcinogenic chemicals are leaching into water supplies used by 30000 people.
Bhopal is a part of a series of similar incidents such as Chernobyl, the use of uranium-contained bombs in former Yugoslavia, the damp of nuclear waste in Northern Sea et al. All these incidents are telling us that humanity is refusing to learn from its mistakes and that it continues to value profit above human life. For example, lately there is a debate for more nuclear energy but none seems to be concerned with the disposal of nuclear waste. Another conclusion from Bhopal is that those who are affected are normally poor and those that in the end were never responsible, not to mention that their compensation is never equal to the damage that they suffered. On the other hand, those that are responsible for such incidents are never punished accordingly and thus humanity moves through time by repeating its mistakes and by following wrong values.
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The story in the first paragraph reminded me about Cernobyl. I had no idea about Bhopal, though.
As for disposal of nuclear waste, you might want to check out one of my older posts. In several years, Romania might just end up being one of the deposits.
Fantastic thanks. i will look at them. As for Bohpal there is an amazing movie called: the yes men fix the world’. By the way also Serbia is heard to be a disposal location
Thank you, Fotis.
I found the movie’s website & thought of adding it here, for others’ convenience, too:
http://theyesmenfixtheworld.com/
@Fortis
Great article…
Brought back memories of the incident…
@Adela
thnx for d link…
The worst part is, the water and soil are still contaminated. Here’s a new report:
http://downtoearth.org.in/webexclusives/story1.htm
Toxic waste, environmental pollution, multinational corporations exploiting resources, covering up facts, unfortunately India is not new to this (Bhopal is proof of that).
Not to mention the continuous pollution of the Ganges, which affects an estimated 2,000,000 people.
@Hemant
Read d report…
& can utter only word about politicians: ‘Shamelessness’...
The company is adopting profiteering policies & is from foreign lands. Though, it is not an excuse for its ill doings, it is understandable to somewhat extent.
But at least politicians are our own people. They have been elected for OUR benefits. What they are doing is selling our country, which we handed over to them with trust that they will take care of it, to multinationals. It’s a breach of trust.
Have they been playing same games with the lives of victims if someone of their relatives would have been one of the vicitms??
I also happened to read an article which states…
“Today, the Indian government is expected to announce broad targets for reducing carbon emissions. It is ironic that this announcement comes on the 25th anniversary of the country’s worst industrial disasters. On this day in 1984, poisonous gas leaked from Union Carbide’s Bhopal plant affecting over 5 lakh people. Nearly 20,000 people are believed to have died that night. The government’s lack of concern to the plight of those affected can be clearly judged. All charges against Union Carbide were dropped. In return, the company paid the government Rs. 7.1 bn as compensation. Of this, Rs. 1.1 bn was to be used towards compensation of livestock. Hence, the compensation worked out to a paltry sum of approximately Rs 12,400 per person. Furthermore, till date the government seems to have done little to protect the environment in this area. Even today, ground water around the affected area contains very high levels of the chemical. The Indian government stands on the world stage today to proclaim its commitment toward protecting the environment. However, it must show commitment to its ideal by appropriate actions.”
Adela: Thanks for finding the link of the movie. Its really very good movie.
Aditya: very good post. It sets the matters as they are