Union Carbide not responsible |
Victims of the Bhopal tragedy in India waited to be treated on Dec. 4, 1984 at Bhopal`s hospital where a poison gas leak from the Union Carbide factory killed 4,000 persons and injured about 600,000 others. The tragedy occurred when a storage tank at a pesticide plant run by Union Carbide exploded and poured cyanide gas into the air, immediately killing more than 3,500 slum dwellers.The Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York May 24 affirmed a lower court’s ruling that found the Union Carbide Corporation was not responsible for cleaning up the mess created by the 1984 Bhopal tragedy in India, which killed approximately 10,000 people and injured about 600,000. Thirty years after methyl isocyanate leaked out of the Bhopal plant, aquifers as far as 3.5 kilometers away are still contaminated with toxic wastes. Owners and occupants of land near the Bhopal plant are suing UCC – which was bought by Dow Chemical in 2001 – for causing injuries resulting from hazardous contaminants attributed to the plant’s inadequate waste management system. Residents living near the now-shuttered site have suffered from a variety of illnesses from drinking contaminated water, and a huge number of babies have been born with birth defects. EarthRights and the plaintiffs want UCC to clean up the toxic wastes from the site.
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