140 likes | 540 Vues
Bhopal: The Union Carbide Gas Leak. Background.
E N D
Background • In the 1969, Union Carbide set up a plant in Bhopal, India, to manufacture pesticides. The facility was part of India's "Green Revolution" and industrialization policy. These pesticides were considered essential in the drive for agricultural self-sufficiency.
Area Affected • Bhopal, India
What happened? • What happened on December 23, 1984, was what had to be the world's worst industrial disaster - often referred to as the Three Mile Island of the chemical industry. A result of technological, industrial, legal and human error, the incident took the lives of 2,500 people, and injured about 400,000, with the toll still rising to this day.
Environmental Concepts • We discussed this when we reviewed Air Pollution.
Damage Report • In the aftermath of the 2,500 deaths and 400,000 injuries/illnesses caused by the leak, the Indian government further victimized the people of Bhopal. India settled out of court with Union Carbide for $470 million. That amount, distributed over nearly 550,000 claimants in the suit, wasn't even able to cover the majority of medical expenses, not to mention their suffering.
Lessons Learned • This instance provides hard evidence to multi-national corporations that they can indeed get away with murder in third-world nations, and that it can be profitable. Upon settling, Union Carbides stock rose $2 a share, as investors realized that the company's pursuits were untouchable.
Could this happen again? • No, it’ll never happen again. They are being more cautious to make sure they prevent it from happening again.
Citations • http://www.bhopal.com/faq • news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/bhopal/4023447.stm • en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster • history1900s.about.com/od/1980s/qt/bhopal.htm • www1.american.edu/ted/bhopal.htm