Forty years on
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JAN / FEB 2025
Chemical disasters linger a long time , both in the minds of the public and in their effects on the ground . 2024 saw the fortieth anniversaries of two incidents , which , although orders of magnitude different in scale , are still far from being resolved to this day .
The methyl isocyanate leak from Union Carbide ’ s pesticide plant in Bhopal , India , on 2 December 1984 left 3,000 people dead and caused major lasting damage from high levels of heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants in the soil and the groundwater , and many other hazardous chemicals found on the surface .
Litigation has been extensive , most recently in 2023 when petitioners , including India ’ s Central Bureau of Investigation , asked a court in Bhopal to hold Dow criminally liable for the incident . Dow , which acquired Union Carbide in 1999 , replied that this court has no jurisdiction over the case and the petition appears to be going nowhere
Nonetheless , over 700,000 tonnes of contaminated waste remain at the site . The state of Madhya Pradesh , aided by federal funding , has made plans to incinerate some 337 tonnes elsewhere but even this drop in the ocean has raised controversy . The Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives and the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal , which represents survivors and residents , both oppose it .
There were no direct casualties from the leak at Ciba-Geigy ’ s industrial dyes , pigments , epoxy resins and plastics plant in North Dover , New Jersey , in May 1984 and the subsequent dumping of toxic waste into the Toms River . However , it caused extensive environmental damage and has been blamed for a high cancer rate in local children between 1979 and 1995 .
Like Union Carbide , Ciba-Geigy has since been taken over – by BASF . In 2022 , BASF and New Jersey signed what was meant to be a final settlement but it has not yet been finalised . Local campaigners now accuse the state of failing to hold the polluter to account or get to grips with the true extent of the problem . The state Department of Environmental Protection ( DEP ) has responded that its authority was limited to restoring the land , not compensating individuals .
In October 2024 , the local campaigning group Save Barnegat Bay said the DEP “ has settled one of the most notorious cases of deliberate , widespread and criminal contamination without regard to the record and the public interest ”. There is nothing to stop individual lawsuits being brought against BASF . This is the USA and never-ending litigation is going to be the likely outcome .
First and foremost , these were tragedies for the people affected . They were also reputational disasters for the companies involved and for the chemical industry as a whole . The industry ’ s perennial problem is that the good that it does goes unnoticed while the harm it does screams from the rooftops . That may be unfair but the reality cannot be ignored .
An anonymous correspondent wrote some words that still bear reading back in 2009 when Chemical Processing considered the lessons of Bhopal 25 years on . Corporations , he said , do not just “ blunder into serious accidents because they don ’ t remember previous accidents ”. Rather , they do not want to remember .
“ They don ’ t want shareholders to think about them . They certainly don ' t want to remind governments of them . And they most definitely do not want to discuss them in front of injured parties .” To do so would be to admit a responsibility that would affect the only yardstick that matters , the bottom line .
Fair comment ? Or have we cleaned up our act and learned to acknowledge mistakes ? Because if we do not , disasters will continue to raise their heads for many years to come .
Dr Andrew Warmington
EDITOR – SPECIALITY CHEMICALS MAGAZINE
SPECCHEMONLINE
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