Bhopal Victims Still Seeking Redress

[struggle4progress]

By MADHUR SINGH/NEW DELHI
Saturday, Jun. 28, 2008

The sad truth facing the victims of the natural disasters in China and Burma is that they will soon disappear forever from the headlines and awareness of the international media, inevitably crowded out by more current and pressing stories. The same thing happened to the survivors of Bhopal, where, in December 1984, 40 tons of mostly methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas — one of the deadliest chemicals invented by man — escaped from a Union Carbide factory, immediately killing some 8,000 people, and eventually being linked to 12,000 subsequent deaths ...

.. Nafeesa Khan cannot forget the night her life became a living hell. Aged just 18 then, she was married to railways worker Jabbar Khan and expecting their first child. They lived a little over a mile away from the Union Carbide factory, where the gas leak occurred shortly after midnight on December 3, 1984. "We woke up to the sound of screaming," she recalls, "We thought we were breathing fire. There was fire in our eyes and our bellies. People were running helter-skelter, confused, and it seemed the night would never end. By the time it ended, my unborn child was dead."

Like the other survivors, Nafeesa and Jabbar were left enfeebled by exposure to the poison gas, and developed lung, skin and digestive disorders. Too weak to work, Jabbar lost his job. All of the couple's five children — who were not yet born at the time of the disaster — suffer from multiple ailments that doctors blame on their parents' exposure to MIC and other chemicals. "I'd never thought my life would turn out this way," says Nafeesa, "What hurts more is that those responsible for ruining my life have got away."

Two decades on, a criminal case charging Union Carbide and its officials with culpable homicide is still dragging on in a local court in Bhopal, because none of the accused have been available to the court. In 1985, the Indian government had filed a $3.3 billion claim in a U.S. court against Union Carbide, but eventually settled out of court for $470 million — which amounted to less than $500 for each of the 500,000 people harmed by the accident. In addition, Union Carbide never cleaned up the accident site, which continues to leech highly toxic chemicals into the soil and groundwater of the surrounding area, affecting even people born decades after the gas leak. In 2001, Dow Chemicals acquired Union Carbide, but has refused to accept any liability for Bhopal ...

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1818555,00.html

[KT2000]

1. I wonder if

Congress could do anything about this. They should not be allowed to do business in the US.
As I undersatand it, a state corporate charter requires a certain amount of "citizenship" to enjoy the benefits of a corporation.
I know - Congress is already owned by the Dows, Montantos and Union Carbides.
This is just sickening.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. My kids and I just saw a show that featured this disaster. It mentioned the

original lawsuit and what the settlement finally was. I put the show on pause and explained to the boys that it was absolutely criminal.

We've been watching disaster shows all week and I've been making sure to tell them that so often companies get away with murder whenever they want just to save time and money; hence the need for strict regulations and enforcement. This is in fact one of the main purposes of the gov't--to keep people safe. (Here's hoping it all sinks into their little brains and makes an impression.)