Bhopal Disaster Revisited [updated] 810
On December 3, 1984, a chemical plant run by Union Carbide and located in Bhopal, India
released about 40 tons of a toxic gas which was an intermediate chemical used in creating pesticides. (That is, the plant was in the business of creating chemicals deadly to life.) Safety at the plant had not been a concern of management; numerous safety systems were offline or non-functional. The gas cloud drifted over the city and killed thousands of people, and inflicted permanent injury to hundreds of thousands more. It was the worst industrial accident to date. Today, the site remains a contaminated wasteland, unusable and never cleaned up. The survivors have been minimally compensated, but as time passes, enough of them have died that compensation may now be in the works. Update: 12/03 15:51 GMT by M : Whoops, just kidding, the Reuters story linked there is wrong; the BBC was apparently hoaxed into putting a Dow spokesman on TV who wasn't actually a Dow spokesman. Dow has no plans to clean up the facility and no plans to compensate the survivors. Hope this clears things up.
From memory (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:gone bust (Score:1, Interesting)
Sabatoge (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Food for thought (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:gone bust - instant karma gonna get you (Score:1, Interesting)
even in the event that such legislation was enacted in the us, you can be sure that it would be _very_ diffficult to convince a judge of malfeasance.
but the responsibility part is the one i like. in the bible (no i'm not religious, particularly) it mentions that the sins of the father shall be paid by the son (you get my drift). so the question i ask is (without reaching too far), does the justice required by death of 20,000 people get visited on the descendants of the corporate directors? in a christian, hindu, and buddhist sense that would be just.
Fine, Gather evidence and try him in the USA. (Score:1, Interesting)
Does the USA even have a process for dealing with citizens who commit crimes in other countries? Given that its hard to get a fair trial in some countries (hush, let's not say that it includes the US)
Besides, I wouldn't want that on the country's conscience
So we have multiple reasons not to harbor this criminal.
Re:Dow-chem chairman Warren Anderson (Score:3, Interesting)
Corporate greed is not a 100% American trait.
Where oh where in my post did I even mention America? I merely said that it should be the same for ALL companies, no matter what or where you're from.
We're not here to discuss corporations of other countries and their behaviors - I was talking about Dow Chemical and how the US is being quite unethical in not extraditing someone whose "cost-cutting measures" killed thousands.
Re:Dow-chem chairman Warren Anderson (Score:3, Interesting)
As CEO of the company Warren Anderson is the person in which these responsiblities rest.
To extend the analogy - who effectively is responsible for Abu Ghraib?
I don't remember a strike (Score:3, Interesting)
and wikipedia [wikipedia.org] doesn't mention one either. And the amount of water involved was rather large, several hundred liters, so it did not just sneak in. It is unknown how and why the water got into the tank, but none of the possible reasons usually discussed (a misguided attempt to clean the tank, a wrongly connected nitrogen pipe, sabotage) makes Union Carbide look good.
And even if there was a strike: wouldn't you expect management to make sure that your plant doesn't blow up in case of a simple labor dispute?
I worked at the US unit (Score:2, Interesting)
MIC is used in the making of insecticides. It is one of the main ingredients of Seven, along with Phosgene and Chlorine, two other poisonous gases. Phosgene is the name of the mustard gas used in World War I. Basically insecticides are nerve agents designed to work on insects. Many of the ingredients are lethal to humans as well.
Re:From memory (Score:4, Interesting)
Read on, it's pretty cool what you can do nowadays with a computer:
Legal battles and the "sabotage" defence
For Union Carbide, the legal battle with the Government of India was a major long-term effect of the Bhopal disaster. The company's legal defence was built around the claim that it was not liable for damages from the accident, because they were the result of "sabotage" by a disgruntled worker. UCC claimed it knew the saboteur's identity, and the firm of Arthur D. Little, Inc. was hired to verify and publicize this viewpoint (Kalelkar 1988). The company also circulated videos about the sabotage claim to the media and other interested observers.
How was sabotage supposed to have occurred? It was alleged that water could not have entered the MIC tanks during pipe-washing operations: pipes leading to the tanks were simply too long; passages were too complex and blocked with closed valves. These factors would have presented an insuperable physical barrier to water. The only way that so much water could get into the MIC storage tanks was through deliberate action by an individual. According to UCC, a disgruntled worker wanted to spoil the MIC in tank 610. The main evidence was a hose connected to a water main beside an open inlet pipe leading to the tank.
The UCC sabotage theory did not explain how several other simultaneous failures contributed to the accident. In addition to water entry, there were failures in four safety devices - the vent gas scrubber, the flare tower, the refrigeration system, and the water spray. There were failures in design, operating procedures, and staffing, as described earlier. The positive-pressure systems in the MIC tanks had failed, four to eight weeks before the accident.
Union Carbide's information about the sabotage came from interviews with unnamed witnesses conducted several years after the accident, in unreliable conditions. The interviews were held neither under oath nor in the presence of legal authorities or any independent (not paid by Union Carbide) observers. UCC did not reveal the name of the saboteur so that legal action could be initiated.
The sabotage claim did not explain why a disgruntled worker would want to destroy a batch of MIC. Far greater financial damage could have been inflicted on the company by smashing expensive equipment or pouring water on finished goods. Without convincing evidence, the sabotage claim remains just that - a claim.
The deliberate introduction of water into MIC storage tanks might have taken place without any intention to commit sabotage. A small quantity of water from pipe washing could have initiated the accident. Operators on duty might have been alarmed by the sight of a rumbling hot tank and could have introduced water to cool it. Such a scenario was hinted at by some witnesses and it accommodates most of the claims raised in the sabotage defence.
Re:Dow-chem chairman Warren Anderson (Score:3, Interesting)
Untrue. Russia has, by far, the most Nuclear warheads. You can add up all the world's nuclear powers (US, Britian, France, China), and you still don't equal the number of warheads in Russia. US has 10,000, and Russia has 18,000, if memory serves.
I think this is a good example of the demonizing of America that is so popular these days. I'm an American in Europe, and here it is amazing how igorant the European media and population are about America. Sure, America has done plenty to be upset about (I'm not too happy with an awful lot right now), but the amount of disinformation is breathtaking.
I think it is completely in-context to point out that this may not even be a subject if Dow were not American. A Q Khan arms up the world's rogue nations with Nuclear weapons, and gets a full pardon by his government. Russia supplied (illegally) GPS jammers to Iraq. Then let's talk about Chairman Mao: we don't even blink when the Chinese talk about that mass murderer like a hero. Were was his justice?
Right now, hating America, whether with or without reason, is popular. I get hit with all sorts of stereotypes here. But, above all, my favorite thing is that, once my European friends learn that I am well traveled, well read, and have a pretty informed view of the world, they are completely unable to comprend those qualities from an American. So they label me as an a-typical American just to get around having to examine the problems with their own beliefs.
Re:Blame the Indian Government. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Dow-chem chairman Warren Anderson (Score:2, Interesting)
Does that cover the bloody, spontaneous miscarriage pregnant women suffered that night?
How about losing the primary bradwinner in the household?
MethylIsoCyanite killed those affected most severely by virtue of pulmonary edema. For those not medically inclined it means you drown in your own body fluids. People continue to suffer blindness, obscure cancers and all sorts of obscure disorders that are difficult to treat because of their rarity.
They have found that it also continue to have devastating effect on reproductive organs ensuring that the effects will be felt in their children and children's children. I hope I never get to see an earless, lipless or deformed child in person like the ones born there.
Isolate yourself from this tragedy if you want but just remember that corporations are isolated from responsibility and will continue to behave this way if someone does not step up to force people to think about the unique privilege enjoyed by corporations.
There were 6 safety systems incorporated in the design of the factory that were systematically disabled or misused that could have truly limted the impact. Why? Because this factory was not profitable in selling the pesticides, and they were going to shut it down anyway. Never mind that MIC (the toxin) should never have been stored in the megacontainers they stored them in (plant safety would dictate 55-gallon drums, not enough to store 40 TONS of this gas).
Alas, this is the way of the world. We understand that Union Carbide was not necessarily out to do what happened. Technically, it's not their fault right? I think it's the perfect example of what allows to go unchecked, and how legal liability and fiduciary responsibility take precedent over justice.
-- Just another bleeding heart.
Re:"Yes Men" Possibly Responsible for Hoax (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Dow-chem chairman Warren Anderson (Score:1, Interesting)
cancer in india (Score:2, Interesting)
Law?!! What's that? In India there are no rights for anyone who doesn't have deep pockets or strong connections into the government or legal system. Everything in India is a privilege (personal safety, healthcare, electricity, clean water, clean air).
Any 'settlement' made with the govt. is simply distributed amongst the honorable (yeah right) public officials. Hence nothing ever makes it to the actual victims. Corruption is the cancer of India.
Apart from highly talented engineers and doctors (most of whom are outside India), India's legal and political system is a total farse. At the end of the day, no public official cares about the citizens. If you ever find yourself in a situation where you're dependent on a public agency or official - GOD help you. Bottom line, you're better off dead than alive.
Re:Fine, Gather evidence and try him in the USA. (Score:3, Interesting)
This is a question of where does the buck stop--with the probable perpetrators or incompetents who caused the accident, or with the regional VP, or with Indian government officials who exacerbated the problems, or with the president and chairman of the U.S. company that owned the plant. It's really not all that clear.
The Union Carbide Bhopal plant was operated and managed by Indians; it was an all-Indian staff. When the incident occurred that released toxic fumes, there were thousands of people living right outside the fences of the facility in shanty towns. It was not the smartest idea to live next to a chemical plant in the first place, but the Indians were lackadaisical about such things. After the incident, it was reported that the plant staff were dispersed to other parts of India and were mysteriously unavailable for questioning by the Americans. What's more, the whole incident was immediately blamed on the Americans by a hostile Indian government intent on scapegoating the U.S. and collecting billions of dollars in damages.
Recall that at this time India was the leader of the "unaligned movement", a group of nations which played the U.S. off against the U.S.S.R. Indira Gandhi was quite anti-American and India was very restrictive about foreign investments. Consequently poverty endured there until very recently, when the information revolution finally cracked their shell open.
Yes, Bhopal was a terrible tragedy, but the Indian government deserves some of the blame for their craven role as an exploiter of the disaster for political purposes.
Re:Dow-chem chairman Warren Anderson (Score:3, Interesting)
Not to pick nits or anything, but the single largest failure of US security agencies would probably be Pearl Harbor. We were actually reading the Japanese communications at the time.