35 Years of Environmental Injustice in Bhopal

On the night of 2nd December, 1984 a leak of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas and other chemicals from the Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) pesticide plant in Bhopal, resulted in the exposure of hundreds of thousands of people. Over the next few days up to 8,000 people died and the case is counted as the worst industrial disaster in human history. According to the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB), more than 150,000 gas victims are chronically ill, and 50,000 or so are too sick to even work for a living. Till date, more than 25,000 have died as a result of exposure to the poison gases. The toxic wastes that lie strewn in and around the factory has leaked its poisons into the groundwater.

We can never allow the conditions which resulted in this disaster not here not anywhere

In 2009 Friends of the Earth Falkirk co-hosted an event with environmental, union and academic activists in Grangemouth. Norman and Jessica attended the memorial at the Dow Chemical plant, which has now been demolished. Dharmesh Shah come all the way from India to Grangemouth this weekend to attend the event. 

The 26-year old Indian campaigner was outraged that the Dow Chemical Company appeared to have washed its hands of the terrible disaster at Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, 25 years ago next month. So he attend the protest today at the US multinational’s newly acquired Scottish factory in Wholeflats Road.

“We have not learnt the lessons we should have done, so it’s just a matter of time before another Bhopal happens because big companies have shown that they don’t respect human life,” he told the Sunday Herald. 

“There are still communities living around chemical plants, and companies are sending all their dangerous products to India, where the safety regulations are weak.”