The Bhopal disaster occurred on the night of the second and
third of December 1984. Two-thirds of
Bhopal’s then population of about 900,000 people was exposed to the toxic
gases. The chemical plant was owned and operated by UCIL a subsidiary of Union
Carbide Corporation currently owned by the Dow Chemical Company. UCIL’s slogan
was “Science helps build a new India”.
In the guise of helping build a new India, UCC actually
transferred sub-standard technology to India despite having sufficient
knowledge and experience about building safer plants like the far bigger and
safer MIC unit it had built at its Institute plant in West Virginia, USA, in
1966. UCC violated its own prescribed safety norms by under-designing the
safety systems at its Bhopal plant as a cost-cutting measure despite the fact
that it was to manufacture and store in large quantities (over 80-plus tonnes)
of the highly toxic MIC in two storage tanks for long periods. Moreover, even
the under-designed safety systems – refrigeration system, scrubber and flare –
were often not operated to their full potential and were shut off from time to
time as further cost-cutting measures, which posed constant threat to the lives
of workers at the plant and to the population in the surrounding areas. A
disaster, which was inevitable under the circumstances, finally occurred.
Company officials tried to mislead about the likely impact
of the disaster and about possible remedial measures. Government official were under-playing the
magnitude and grievousness of the disaster than in properly assessing all its
ramifications. There was obvious harmony of interests. Locally officials kept
insisting, “MIC (methyl isocyanate) was only an irritant and not lethal”. They
were also desperate to hide the presence of HCN (hydrogen cyanide), which was
well known as a highly poisonous chemical. To their discomfiture, Dr. Heeresh
Chandra, Head of Department of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology at Gandhi
Medical College, was conducting autopsies, and suspected that death in many
cases might have been caused due to cyanide poisoning. Dr. Max Daunderer, a
toxicologist who was sent to India on 4th Dec. by the German Foreign
Office to assist with the relief work, confirmed Dr. Chandra’s suspicion. Dr. Daunderer,
who had foreseen the possibility of cyanide poisoning since he was familiar
with the characteristics of MIC, prescribed sodium thiosulphate (NaTS) as an antidote.
However, the pro-UCC lobby in Bhopal and Delhi was so powerful that
Dr.Daunderer was deported from India on 07 Dec. in order to prevent him from
further damaging UCC’s interests. Later, Dr.Sriramachari of ICMR and his team
carried out necessary studies to confirm that NaTS was a safe antidote for
treating gas-victims. However, even the ICMR could not prevent the State Govt.
from formally banning the use of NaTS to treat gas-victims although timely
administration of NaTS would have saved many lives and reduced adverse effects
on the survivors.
Between September 1985 and February 1989, nearly 600,000
claims were filed for compensation. However, even before the claims were
processed and adjudicated, a Supreme Court assisted settlement took place
between the India and UCC on Feb.1989. The settlement for a paltry sum of 470
million dollars (then about Rupees 7150 million) was premised on the withdrawal
of all criminal charges against UCC and all its officials for all time to come.
The settlement was also based on the assumption that only 3000 victims had died
and another 102,000 had suffered injuries in varying degree. These were merely
imaginary figures of dead and injured since the 600,000 claims that had been
filed until then had neither been processed nor categorized. Fifteen years later,
in 2004, after adjudicating all the claims (including another 400,000 claims
that were filed between 1989 and 1996), the Claim Courts concluded that the
dead and injured gas-victims numbered nearly 573,000, i.e., a figure that was
FIVE times greater than the one that formed the basis of the settlement! However, the Claim Courts too had
underestimated the total number of dead (which actually was well over 20,000)
& seriously injured in the absence of health records. Thus, all that the gas victims (including
next of kin of the dead) got was a pittance from the Settlement Fund – on an
average, just about $820 each (instead of $4476 each even as per the unjust
Settlement).
Even thirty years after the disaster, gas-victims are still
waging a determined struggle to procure a hard copy of their complete medical
record that would enable them to demand appropriate medical care as well as
seek higher compensation based on the gravity of their injury. Eligibility for
seeking enhancement of compensation is based on proof of injury; but the very
authorities, who demand such proof, deny the gas-victims the means to procure
such proof! Gas-victims have suffered damage to their eyes, lungs, nervous
system and gastro-intestinal system. Even in 2010, the morbidity rate among
gas-victims continued to be around 20 per cent when among the control group it
was below 9 per cent. The state of the mental health of some victims is
alarming. Moreover, genetic effects are also suspected. About 6000 gas-victims
still seek medical treatment every day. Thus, the ICMR, which had discontinued
disaster-related medical research in 1994, was forced to restart it in 2010. Every
victim of a disaster has a right to his/her complete medical record.
Unfortunately, as far as the Bhopal gas-victims were concerned, the ICMR and
the State Government have failed to take sufficient steps to maintain proper
medical records. Thus, while the ICMR and the State Government were directed
repeatedly by the Supreme Court of India since 2001 to computerize and network
the medical records of all hospitals and clinics treating gas-victims, they
have done little in this regard. As a result, gas-victims have been denied a
copy of his/her complete medical record, which effectively prevents gas-victims
from not only getting appropriate treatment but also higher compensation in
terms of the gravity of injury.
Warren Anderson, the then Chairperson of UCC and accused
No.1 in the criminal case, went unpunished during his lifetime provides a
classic example in this regard.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/01/02/the-unenviable-fate-of-the-bhopal-gas-victims/
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