The Bhopal Disaster

1
The Bhopal Disaster

• Group 1
• Rachel Calloway
• Hitaa Gandhi
• Le Huynh
• Hina Rehmani

2
Background on the Bhopal Disaster

• What happened at the Bhopal Disaster?
• 45 tons of Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) gas escaped
  from two underground storage tanks at a Union
  Carbide pesticide plant
• When did it occur?
• December 3, 1984
• Where did it occur?
• Bhopal, India

3
Map of India
4
How did this incident occur?
5
What is Methyl Isocyanate?

• Clear, colorless, sharp smelling liquid
• Highly flammable
• Extremely toxic
• Volatile reaction with water in about 10 minutes

6
Chemical Reactions

• Effective methods of obtaining Methyl Isocyanate
• Using a distillation column which uses a series
  of filtering devices
• Treatment of MCC with a tertiary amine

7
What is MIC used for?

• Union Carbide used MIC to produce a insecticide
  called Carbaryl
• MIC reacts with 1-naphthol in a
  hydrolysis process to produce Carbaryl

8
Side Effects of Inhaling Methyl Isocyanate

• Effects at 0.4ppm
• Breathlessness
• Choking
• Asthma
• Throat Irritation
• Eye Irritation
• Skin Damage
• Vomiting
• Muscular Weakness
• Altered Consciousness

• Effects at 21ppm
• Pulmonary Edema
• Emphysema
• Hemorrhages
• Bronchial Pneumonia
• Death

9
Repercussions of the disaster?

• Among the 500,000 people exposed to the gas
• 20,000 have died till date
• 120,000 continue to suffer
• Out of every 3 children born after the Bhopal
  disaster, only 1 survived.

10
What happened to Union Carbide?

• After the Bhopal Disaster, the company went out
  of business.
• They were bought by Dow Chemical in 1999.

11
Remediation Process

• Bhopal continues to suffer the environmental
  contamination produced by the release of MIC
• Donations and medical/volunteer assistance has
  been provided
• Union Carbide accepted responsibility and agreed
  to a 470 million settlement

12
Whats the situation now?

• To this day, the Union Carbide location in Bhopal
  is not remediated.
• The plant still leaks toxic chemicals such as
• Mercury
• Trichloroethane
• Chlorinated organics
• Lead

13
The Bhopal Disaster
14
Works Cited

• Banerjee, Brojendra. Bhopal Gas Tragedy. 1. New
  Delhi, India Paribus Publishers and
  Distributors, 1986.
• Bhargava, Ashok. "The Bhopal Incident and Union
  Carbide Ramifications of an Industrial
  Accident." Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars
  18(1986) 2-19.
• Fortun, Kim. "The Bhopal Disaster Advocacy and
  Expertise." Science as culture 7(1998) 193-EOA.
• Jasanoff, Sheila. "Bhopal's Trial of Knowledge
  and Ignorance." Journal of the History of Science
  in Society 98(2007) 344-350.
• Lederman, Peter. "Bhopal Plus One A Chemical
  Engineer's Watershed." Enronmental progress
  5(1986) F2-3.
• Mackenzie, Debora. "Fresh evidence on Bhopal
  disaster." New Scientist 176(2002) 6-EOA.
• Varma, Roli, and Daya Varma. "The Bhopal Disaster
  of 1984." Bulletin of science, technology water
  25(2005) 37-45.
• Websites
• http//www.chemicalindustryarchives.org/dirtysecre
  ts/bhopal/index.asp
• http//www.greenpeace.org/international/news/night
  mare-in-bhopal
• http//www.unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/uu21le/uu21l
  e0c.htm
• http//portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/12/305084.sh
  tml
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methyl_isocyanate