Sunday, February 17, 2002		Article

The tragedy continues
Laxmi Murthy

WHAT can one do if the food, the soil, the water and one's own body are contaminated with toxic chemicals? How does one live live a healthy life and earn a livelihood? How can anyone overlook the violation of human rights by a powerful corporate for which it was never brought to book?

These questions were raised in a recently released report by a Fact Finding Mission (FFM) on Bhopal, the site of the world's worst industrial disaster. During the night of December 2, 1984, about 40 tonnes of methyl isocyanate (MIC) from the pesticide factory of Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) in Bhopal leaked into the atmosphere.

The report, Surviving Bhopal: Toxic Present, Toxic Future, which focussed on human and environmental chemical contamination, left no doubt that the toxic legacy of the Bhopal gas leak continued till date, especially in the heavily-populated areas around the plant. The study was conducted by environment toxicologist Dr Amit Nair and coordinated by Delhi-based non-government organisation (NGO) Srishti. It highlights the fact that "not only the soil, but also the groundwater, vegetables and even breast milk is contaminated to various degrees by heavy metals like nickel, chromium, mercury and lead, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) like dichlorobenzene and halo-organics like dichloromethane and chloroform."

On that fateful night in 1984, more than 2,000 died immediately after the leakage and over 2,00,000 of the city's total population of 7,00,000 were directly affected. What followed was a devastating impact of the chemicals on the eyes, lungs and gastro-intestinal systems. Gynaecological and obstetric complications soon became apparent, as did immunological changes, neurological disorders, higher incidence of cancer and emotional and mental stress. Unfortunately, the devastating impact continued till date.

Tardy compensation, inadequate and inappropriate medical treatment and absence of economic rehabilitation for the debilitated survivors characterised the post-gas leak scenario in Bhopal. In 1989, the Indian Government arrogated to itself the sole power to represent all victims under the Bhopal Gas Leak Act and settled for a sum of US $470 million — nearly one-seventh of the original claim of US $3 billion.

This infamous settlement and disregard for health and the environment by the Union Carbide were lessons in lack of corporate accountability and gross injustice to those affected by the disaster.

Even as Union Carbide merged with Dow Chemical in 2001 to form the largest chemical corporation in the world, the Bhopal Fact Finding Mission, comprising experts from different fields set out to investigate the condition of the people and the state of the environment at the site of the disaster. The mission focussed on several aspects ranging from medical and mental health to economic, legal and social aspects.

The study revealed that continuous contamination of groundwater, soil and breast milk presented a serious health threat not only to those currently exposed to the contamination but also to future generations.

According to experts, the evidence suggested that toxic chemicals had not only moved across various mediums, but trophic transfer of these chemicals through the food chain had caused these chemicals to become part of the system. "The wide spectrum of toxic chemicals detected in the human body itself is a dangerous signal," said Nair.

These chemicals could alter the normal physiological processes in the human body and had a long-term impact on the reproductive, immune and nervous systems. Infants and children were the most vulnerable to these toxic chemicals. Other effects of chemical pollutants included carcinogenicity, mutagenicity and chromosomal aberrations. Of special significance was 'synergism', whereby even minute quantities of two or more of these toxic chemicals in the human body could cause immense harm.

Chlorinated hydrocarbons, sometimes called 'environmental hormones', are also endocrine disrupters. That is, they interfered with the normal functioning of the endocrine system — cells and glands in the body that secrete hormones, the chemical messengers that regulate bodily processes.

These toxic chemicals remained intact (that is they were not bio-degradable) and had a disastrous tendency to accumulate in fatty tissue. Environmental estrogens might increase the risk of breast cancer. They could also cause other reproductive disorders like prolonged menstruation, sterility, low sperm count and repeated miscarriages.

Of serious concern was the fact that they could be passed on to the next generation through breast milk. Human breast milk samples, taken from the women living in the area and studied by the FFM, showed maximum concentrations of VOCs and a higher concentration of pesticides in breast milk, showing that these carcinogenic toxics were bio-concentrated in breast milk. "This poses a serious concern to infants, as it is the easiest and shortest route of exposure to these potentially carcinogenic chemicals," said the report.

According to current toxicological knowledge, there was no acceptable level for these toxic compounds. In children, even low dosage toxicity could lead to endocrine disruption and hormonal malfunctions, effects of which might only emerge at puberty. In addition to the amount of exposure, the timing also seemed to be of importance. Exposure during foetal development or early infancy could have serious implications for future development.

"The worst part of the disaster is probably yet to come," said Nair, speaking about the teratogenic effects. These toxic chemicals could cause mutations and chromosomal aberrations, birth defects in babies born to the exposed population, indicating a strong likelihood of congenital malformations in the generations to come.

One fallout of this has been the fact that people were reluctant to marry those who were exposed to the gas, especially since the men who were exposed and were now married either did not have offspring or had deformed offspring. Many women were hesitant to marry men who were exposed to the gas because of a fear of sterility, miscarriages or malformed children.

While the tragedy continued till date, with affected people forced to consume contaminated water and food, it was apparent that the grim lessons of Bhopal were yet to be learnt. "While the post-Bhopal scenario realigned thinking on the impact of chemicals on human health and environment, this has yet to be translated into practice," said the report.

The seemingly wide-ranging Environment Protection Act enacted in 1996 and other laws which it spawned, followed the limited path of regulation and end-of-pipe solutions, without examining the processes which led to the generation of hazardous wastes.

The post-Bhopal era also saw worldwide regulation on chemicals and toxicity and a demand by communities for the right to information and to be participants in the process of choosing sites for industries. Yet, as Tomas Mac Sheoin's report on the Union Carbide Corporation noted, "It is one of the bitter ironies of Bhopal that its major reformist effects were felt in Union Carbide's home country." Inspired by the disaster and the public response to it, the US increased its regulatory activities. One major step forward came through the setting up of the Toxic Releases Inventory and other freedom-of-information measures that greatly increased public access to information on toxic chemical releases.

In India, however, community struggles have had little success in gaining the 'right to know' whereby people could identify any contaminated sites in their areas. Why go so far? Because, as Nair pointed out, many people even in Bhopal were not aware of the hazardous impact of contaminated ground water. Others, though aware of the contamination, continued to consume it because the government had not provided any alternative sources of potable water.