Bhopal is a calamity without end.

On December 3, 1984, clouds of poison leaking from a Union Carbide pesticides plant brought death to thousands in this central Indian city. A quarter of a century later, victims of this, the world's worst industrial disaster, are still being born.

Here, in neighbourhoods where people depend on water contaminated by chemicals leaking from the abandoned factory, and to mothers exposed to the toxic gas as children, brain damaged and malformed babies are 10 times more common than the national average.

Doctors at Bhopal's Sambhavna Clinic say that as many as one in 25 babies are still born with defects and developmental problems, such as a smaller head, webbed feet and low birth weight.

Those who were children when the fumes overcame this city of a million are suffering, too.

Painful skin lesions, stomach problems and raw, itchy eyes are common among thousands of families, some of whom moved to Bhopal only in recent years.

And the clinic says that Bhopal now has some of India's highest rates of gall bladder and oesophageal cancers, TB, anaemia and thyroid abnormalities.

Young girls start menstruating much later than normal and experience painful gynaecological problems, which often lead to hysterectomies at a young age.

These problems, say campaigners such as the Bhopal Medical Appeal (BMA), are linked to the continuing pollution of parts of the local water supply by chemicals such as chloroform and carbon tetrachloride.

Families have no choice but to use ground water for washing, cooking and drinking when safe sources run dry, according to new research by the BMA.

The study found higher levels of several carcinogenic chemicals in water sources this year compared with last year - strongly suggesting that future generations will be poisoned unless the area is decontaminated.

This flies in the face of recent claims by state and national ministers that the site is clean.

Meanwhile, the legal fight for the chief executive of Union Carbide to be tried for his company's alleged negligence is no nearer success than it was 25 years ago.

Amnesty International will this week call on the Indian Government and Dow Chemicals, which bought Union Carbide in 2001, to take "urgent and decisive action" to ensure that the accused appear in court - more than 20 years after arrest warrants were first issued. Dow continues to deny any responsibility for the criminal case.

It was in the early hours of December 3, 1984 that 27 tonnes of methyl isocyanate gas - 500 times more toxic than cyanide - began to leak from the Union Carbide plant into the surrounding areas.