Those of you who are regulars to this blog will know that I occasionally go 'off track' and stray from betting related subjects when I find something interesting or outrageous - I should really have a seperate blog for such issues - I just need a break from pure betting commentary sometimes...
It is almost 25 years to the day that the Bhopal disaster occurred when water got into the machinery at the now infamous chemical plant run by Union Carbide. I remember it quite vividly now, the scale of the disaster and the suffering that it caused. The news reports, the pictures...and then, such is the nature of 'news', it seemed to be quickly forgotten.
The incident produced a toxic gas - believed to be five-hundred times more deadly than hydrogen cyanide - that leaked out over a city which was home to close to a million people. Survivors still recall how they fled with eyes burning, trying to shield their children, coughing and frothing at the mouth - all accompanied by unbearable pain.
Deaths from the immediate leak were officially put at around 3000 people but many believe the figure was closer to 10,000. Indian institutions reckon that the long term total number of deaths is in the region 25,000 with another 100,000 currently suffering or dying as a result of chemical poisoning.
Miscarriages in Bhopal are seven times the national average, with child deformaties also way above the norm.
A major incident was always on the cards. It even prompted one of Bhopal's journalists, Raj Keswani, to write: "Wake up people of Bhopal, you are on the edge of a volcano!"
The safety record at the plant was poor. Over a million dollars in cuts had been imposed leading up to the disaster, refrigeration to stabilise the potentially lethal chemical had been stopped on cost grounds, work forces had been cut, and, perhaps most damning of all, the warning siren had been turned off because it was continually being set off by minor leaks.
On the fateful night none of the four safety devices to prevent such disasters were in working order.
Fault was not admitted by Union Carbide or its parent company Dow Chemical - but then that is nothing new. Let's face it - admitting fault usually means you would be considered guilty in a court of law. The stance still remains that the disaster could have been an act of sabotage.
Union Carbide did accept 'moral responsibility' - built a hospital for the victims and agreed to pay 470m USD to help compensate victims but only if the Indian government dropped its law suit, which would potentially have cost the company billions.
As at 5 years ago half the money paid by Union Carbide to compensate victims is still in an Indian government bank account.
The biggest failing, however, is the fact that the ruined plant is still unsafe. Tons of toxic chemical allegedly still remain there - slowly seeping into the earth. The groundwater is contaminated - mercury, pesticides, industrial solvents - take your pick. The state government maintains that the site is safe - but has dropped plans to open it to the public.
Dow Chemical maintain that it is the government's responsibility to handle the clean up. This may be true but it is a pity that their 'moral responibility' does not extend to handling the clean up in view of continued death and suffering. They are, after all, the experts.
Warren Anderson, Union Carbide's chairman, was at least arrested on a number of charges when he visited the disaster site. But he skipped bail and headed back to the US - where he stayed. He is thought to spend much of his time in the Hamptons, Long Island.
Bhopal was nothing short of an act of terrorism carried out by corporate America. The issue of
intent that seperates this disaster from say 9/11 really matters not. Both were tragedies - both had a tangible source and both to some degree were avoidable. If 9/11 was murder, Bhopal was certainly manslaughter - one of the charges originally brought against Warren Anderson.
But it would not be fair to simply point the finger at the US. It could easily have been one of any number of Western companies, some of whom, even with today's increased awareness and safety standards, pollute the foreign ground on which they are built.
Yet what is almost as tragic is that one group of people will be revered and remembered - while the other group largely forgotten. One group still mourn, whilst the other group still mourn and die. Had this disaster happened on Western soil you'd want to believe that it would have been 'handled' - that there would not have been a horrific legacy.
The failures surrounding the Bhopal disaster inevitably centre around money, legal liability, reputation, fear - but ultimately we have to ask ourselves do we care enough about people in the third world. If we don't care enough, then there is no
voice and we are not going hold our corporations to account.
Another injustice comes to mind. We have thrown billions at the banks, billions at the war and we can't throw any money at nasty 'puddle' in India and get it cleaned up. People will still be dying in Bhopal long after the banks have recovered and long after the war is won or lost - only with many more casualties.
I am ashamed to admit than when I see news pictures of some of the horrors going on in the third world - I am as guilty as the next man - often thinking:-
'god how terrible ' but an instant later I may be grabbing a cold beer from the fridge or cooking up a nice steak. It was only because I heard a snippet on the news regarding the anniversery of the Bhopal disaster - that I remembered this tragedy at all.
posted by Betting Exchange Trader
