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Bhopal Gas Tragedy

On December 2nd-3rd, 1984, a chemical leak from a pesticide plant in Bhopal, India exposed over 600,000 people to methyl isocyanate gas, killing at least 15,000 people. It was the worst industrial disaster in history. Negligence and lack of safety precautions by Union Carbide allowed 30 tons of toxic gas to escape and turn Bhopal into a gas chamber. The tragedy highlighted the dangers of chemical pollution and need for stronger environmental regulations to prevent future industrial disasters.

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89 views1 page

Bhopal Gas Tragedy

On December 2nd-3rd, 1984, a chemical leak from a pesticide plant in Bhopal, India exposed over 600,000 people to methyl isocyanate gas, killing at least 15,000 people. It was the worst industrial disaster in history. Negligence and lack of safety precautions by Union Carbide allowed 30 tons of toxic gas to escape and turn Bhopal into a gas chamber. The tragedy highlighted the dangers of chemical pollution and need for stronger environmental regulations to prevent future industrial disasters.

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BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY

2nd-3rd December 1984


-By Animesh Paul
On the night of December 2, 1984, chemical, methyl isocyanate (MIC) spilt out from Union
Carbide India Ltd.’s (UCIL’s) pesticide factory turned the city of Bhopal into a colossal gas
chamber. It was India's first major industrial disaster. At least 30 tons of methyl isocyanate
gas killed more than 15,000 people and affected over 600,000 workers. Bhopal gas tragedy
is known as world's worst industrial disaster. The negligence and human tragedy made
Bhopal synonymous with industrial disaster and showed just how harmful chemical
pollution is to health and well-being. The enormous human loss calls for remembering the
victims and stronger engagement on a wide range of pollution management and
environmental health issues to prevent similar tragedies.
Government should take extra precaution while dealing with such hazardous chemical
industry and take life of people as a priority not the profitability or else we can see such
similar type of incident like Visakhapatnam Gas leak in May 2020 where LG Polymer gas was
leaked and took the life of 1000+ people. Ans similar incident happen in Beirut where 2700
tons of Ammonium Nitrate got busted in the City’s Cargo of Beirut.
While natural disasters are largely unpredictable, environmental disasters are caused
directly or indirectly by human behavior. Chemical disasters, like the one in Bhopal, are
preventable if risks are identified and addressed early on. It will take the combined effort of
competent authorities, private sector and society to prevent tragic environmental events
from happening. Some measures include:
• Developing policies to ensure that industries operate in accordance with technical
and safety standards and allocating resources for risk assessment and monitoring.
• Most of all, it’s important to adhere to environmental norms. Taking environmental
safety and public health risks seriously, and promoting do-no-harm industrial
development can make a big difference.
• There is a clear need to promote clean development that innovatively addresses
potential negative impacts on the environment.
• To prevent future environmental disasters, all sectors could also do more to integrate
environmental emergency preparedness and response activities into strategies and
sustainable development programs.
• These measures could make a big difference in people’s health and well-being, and
avoid future tragedies.

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