BHOPAL: A TOXIC LEGACY

Bhopal is the name of the place where, once upon a time, a vast plume of poison burst upon 5,20,000 people. But that happened 25 years ago.

Now Bhopal is a metaphor for disaster, industrial and human. It has been the object of much speculation and typically endless litigation, including the latest travesty of justice.  

Behind the Lens: Bhopal    Nuclear liability bill: a reality  check The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill 2009   Radioactive mirage

A case study in regulatory law, it could serve as wonderful proof in an argument to uphold the precautionary principle. Reams of paper research unpublished or not undertaken and crores of cash money unspent, or non-funding facilitate the entry of a new generation of the city's residents into the 21st century, and death by unknown illness.

The illnesses are unknown, but their source isn't. There are still tonnes of extremely toxic wastes lying on the now abandoned factory's premises, which continue to slowly contaminate the city's soil and water. A 2009 CSE lab study, in fact, has found how the poison is seeping far beyond the confines of the factory into homes and colonies, devastating people's lives.

This is a wake up call for the future. In the light of what happened and continues to happen in Bhopal, the Indian Parliament's proposition of capping the nuclear technology industry against any liabilities should be stoutly refuted. Read on…

25th Anniversary Special Dec  15, 2009	20th Anniversary Special Dec  15, 2003	10th Anniversary Special Dec  31, 1994