3 DECEMBER marks the anniversary of the world's worst industrial disaster ever. Between 5000 and 15000 people died when a cloud of deadly gas escaped factory in Bhopal, India.
London conference on 3 November saw the beginnings of an against tionals whose policies produced Bhopal.
did Bhopal happen?
multinational chemical firm. It has 100,000 employees world-wide, working in 500 separate plants in 36 countries.
It boasts a commitment to safety. But its past and present activity has created death and industrial disease on a large scale, including silicosis, bladder paralysis, radiation Doison ing, liver and skin cancer and cadmium poisoning.
waiting to happen. An international cost-cutting policy, chemical firms in the '80s, led to inaaccuate mamntenance, underman ing, ed to manufacture the pesticide Carburyl was originally to have been prowas commissioned with a twelve. reduced in 198] to eight. lhe total from luo to os. Most or those sack. ed had been disciplined, many for refusing manual.
Accident poor. In 1981 a worker died after being solashed with Phosgene.
five workers were hospitalised after a similar leak.
the internal alarm system was disconnected Wal lie sysicill losses, hazards, then reported attributed union fears to imagination'.
thus far from an unforseeable act of god. They were the consequence of a conscious policy to boost Union Carbide profits in defiance of its workers, and pursued by Union Carbide -by its rivals.
means ends here does the saga of official complicity in its activities which now turned the indisaster:
Disconnected ple who had been caught sleeping were short initial blast, had been disconnected and was not turned on again until 3am. There was in any case no local evacuation plan or emergency procedure.
fects of MIC had been distributed to local doctors. company medical officer would only say that it caused 'minor irritation to the eyes watcl.
now dving at dead Everywere lue avnig welc wracked with violent coughing and vomiting, their eyes blinded and streaming, their bodies In asully. Mass began within hours.
Why was so iittle knowledge on MIC's toxic effects available to those trying to cope with this catastrophe? It is now established that MIC permanently damage the eyes, lungs, earl, liver, central nervous system. utera bloodstream. The company's manual wal lis effects comes about down into cyanide within the body. Had local doctors had this information, and had the cyanide antidote sodium thiosulphate been widely usMally Cyanide Union Carbide knew this. clearly stated in a technical handbook nor in other countries where MIC was handled did it seem keen to release doctors fought to save lives and end suffering on the basis of virtually total ignorance of the poison involved. Ofhave reason to believe Union Carbide has carried out research on animals and we have specifically asked them for the result of this research. They available". It has trickled back to us from the USA that they do have this the possibility that cyanide could be the main problem within a week of the arrived with 50,000 cases of sodium Madhya Pradesh, opinion were willing to accept then evidence in the absence of support LTON Stone Wall tims of Bhopal who met a stone wall.
French CGT member JeanMichel Valeaux, from the Union Carbide plant at Beziers, explained their long history of struggle over the safety French plant were originally the same as those in Bhopal. In 1977 the union cal that one year on reassured workers that beyond 'imresult in serious long term problems.
the by-products of exposure to MIC In 1979 further evidence from Hrench through the web of secrecy.
truli aDOl Victims dia, to the USA, to Britain, forging workers have realised that the company which brought the disaster can they are sitting on only be confronted by collective acorganised an all-India convention in ment and the right to information.
for a mass campaign on the dangers Supreme Court ruling compelling the distribution of Sodium Thiosulphate the state government to take this step way Indian Council of Medical Research, who confirmed the cyanide conneclion after trials. Only in April did the stocks were ready and on 3 June, voluntary organisations were finally 'negligence'. Hence the court action.
doubt about the value of individual litigation. Perhaps the most signifiin 1978 the management finally admitted that cyanide could be one of that under high temperature and pressure MIC could break down to produce were unable fully to break ume on tney nave been acmanding full information from management about advance warning, the dangers of MTC, safety systems, alternative manufacturing procedures, and the then case.
They have been travelling 1o In17-18 February a broad They have taken up the campaign for Thiosulphate; for provision for abortion for women who inhaled the gas;
One tactic nas been lo secure a extreme and continued reluctance of multinationals co-opt and implicate around a trade union and workers' workers and victims have devised an should not just be allowed to cut and provide jobs and a safe environment.
This may be the only hope of future employment for many victims withdrawn. Thus strong backing, parSuch unity is much needed. While third world countries often receive the most exploitative and most dangerBhopals exist everywhere the British chemical industry has been Flixborough and Seveso disasters are DUl workers who try to resist companies introducing cost-cutting, procedures are frightened into silence Bhopals' is a universal one. From India 1o France to Britain we must learn tessons. those fighting for a future in Bhopal should be a springboard for united action inSpital Hill, Sheffield Coach trom L000T leaves Southall, King Street (outside Southall Monitoring Group office) at 7am and calls at Kings Cross, York • For further information contact mon Ground, 87 The Wicker, Shef-