Bhopal a poisoned city 25 years on

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.

Hundreds of thousands breathed in the gas as they slept. Those living just over the factory fence woke up, gasping for breath and blinded by the gas as it rapidly dispersed.

Around 8000 people are now believed to have died within the first 72 hours. Hundreds died in their beds; thousands more staggered from their homes to die in the street.

Another 15,000 are estimated to have died as a result of the gas exposure since then, often from painful and horrific damage to their lungs, heart, brain and other organs, according to Amnesty International.

An estimated three-quarters of the area's pregnant women spontaneously aborted their babies within hours or days after "that night".

Hundreds more babies have since been born with deformities such as missing limbs, abnormal organs, misshapen heads and tumours. None of the plant's six safety systems was operational that night.

Even today, Amnesty International estimates that 120,000 people exposed to the gas have chronic medical conditions.

While the factory was closed down in 1985, another 30,000 people have become sick from water contaminated by the chemical waste buried underground or dumped in nearby ponds, according to health workers in Bhopal.

Children and livestock are still spotted playing and grazing on the grass that hides the waste because the local government has failed to secure the site properly.

Hazira Bee, 53, lives in J P Nagar, one of the worst affected areas to the north of the city. On the night of the disaster, after awakening to the smell of burning chilli, she and her husband ran with their children, their eyes and lungs stinging with the gas.

Hazira said: "The scene inside the factory was terrible. I saw dead bodies and people with foam coming out of their mouths. Since the gas leak we have all been sick. Because of this, my children couldn't study and now they can't get good jobs. If this took place in America, the US government would have taken care of their citizens."

The BMA water analysis report supports previous studies by Greenpeace, which established that the areas north of the disused factory are worst affected because the ground water runs in that direction.

The Sambhavna Clinic - set up 13 years ago with private donations - sees 150 people like Hazira and her family every day.

There are 23,000 people who were either exposed to the gas or who have since used contaminated water supplies registered with chronic conditions such as liver disease, paralysis and severe anaemia.

Earlier this year, the Indian Council of Medical Research finally bowed to pressure by restarting a government-funded research programme to understand the alarming rates of still births, cancers, neurological and gynaecological problems seen by Bhopal's doctors.

The US$470 million out-of-court settlement made by Union Carbide in 1989 is regarded as grossly inadequate by survivor organisations.

It was based on early estimates of only 3800 deaths and 102,000 injured, and the maximum amount any victim received was US$1000 - about 11 cents a day over 25 years.

Had compensation been the same as for those exposed to asbestos under US court rulings against defendants that also included Union Carbide, the liability would have exceeded US$10 billion.

The Dow Chemical Company insists that it has no responsibility. Tom Sprick from Union Carbide, said: "Neither Union Carbide nor its officials are subject to the jurisdiction of the Indian court since they did not have any involvement in the operation of the plant ... The Government of India needs to address any ongoing concerns of the Bhopal people."

- INDEPENDENT

LINGERING LEGACY

DEATH TOLL:

About 4000 people in the early hours of December 3, 1984. A few days later the death toll had doubled. Over the next few years, the poison nearly doubled the toll again, to about 15,000, according to government estimates.

LONG-TERM IMPACT:

At least 500,000 people were affected. Rights groups say toxic waste still contaminates the soil and groundwater.

Thousands of children, born to parents directly exposed to the gas leak or poisoned by the contaminated water, are suffering from cleft lips, missing palates and twisted limbs.

Varying degrees of brain damage are being found, as are chaotic menstrual cycles. Government officials say there is no current contamination and dismiss assertions that the birth defects are related to the disaster.

- AP