30 Years Later, Suffering Continues in Bhopal
In the early morning hours of Dec. 3, 1984, a gas leak occurred at a pesticide plant run by Union Carbide in India, resulting in one of the worst industrial accidents in history.
The people living near the plant in Bhopal didn’t know how to protect themselves as tons of deadly methyl isocyanate gas poured into the air, exposing more than half a million to the toxic fumes. Staying inside and using a wet cloth as a face cover could have saved hundreds. Thousands died, and thousands more were left injured or disabled.
Union Carbide, a U.S. company acquired in 2001 by Dow Chemical Co. , settled with the Indian government in 1989 to pay $470 million to the victims, but did not address environmental hazards tied to the leak. No action has been taken to clean up hazardous waste left at the site, which residents say continues to contaminate soil and water supplies, although no scientific data is available to confirm this claim.
Union Carbide has denied negligence, maintaining that the gas leak was the result of sabotage by a disgruntled employee.
The settlement put the Indian government in charge of deciding who among the claimants should receive payouts and for distributing the compensation.
Thirty years later, survivors and activists have told The Associated Press that thousands of the children in Bhopal born to parents exposed to the gas leak or poisoned by contaminated water have a higher incidence of birth defects than in neighboring urban areas. Skin, vision and breathing disorders are also prevalent. The Indian government told the AP that to date at least 500,000 people have been affected by the disaster, suffering direct injuries or birth defects blamed on the leak, with another estimated 15,000 dead.
The government of Madhya Pradesh state, where Bhopal is located, has denied that these birth defects are linked to the gas leak, but it has built hospitals and provided housing to many survivors, according to Reuters.
Research on the chronic or trans-generational effects on humans exposed to methyl isocyanate gas is limited. The link between the gas leak and birth defects in later generations cannot be confirmed, but several studies published by the scientific community have found higher incidences of genetic abnormalities, miscarriages and still births in Bhopal than in nearby urban areas not exposed to methyl isocyanate gas.
Photographer Elena del Estal, who lives in Delhi, India, spent the past few months documenting some of the residents of Bhopal, many of whom are living with severe health complications.
She said that Chingari Trust, a local nongovernment organization that has documented the ailments of 700 registered children, offers free therapy and classes catered toward disabilities including cerebral palsy, intellectual disability and hearing impairment.