The Bhopal Disaster of 1984
Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society http://bst.sagepub.com/
The Bhopal Disaster of 1984
Roli Varma and Daya R. Varma Bulletin of Science Technology & Society 2005 25: 37 DOI: 10.1177/0270467604273822 The online version of this article can be found at: http://bst.sagepub.com/content/25/1/37
Published by: http://www.sagepublications.com On behalf of:
National Association for Science, Technology & Society
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BULLETIN OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY & SCIENCE / Month 2005
Varma, Varma / BHOPAL DISASTER 10.1177/0270467604273822
The Bhopal Disaster of 1984
Roli Varma University of New Mexico Daya R. Varma McGill University The 20th anniversary of the Bhopal calamity fell on December 3, 2004. The world’s worst industrial disaster in Bhopal, India, happened because of inadequate maintenance by Union Carbide and poor monitoring by the Indian authorities. Malfunctioning safety measures, inappropriate location of the plant, and lack of information about the identity and toxicity of the gas worsened the effects of the accident on people and livestock. The Bhopal disaster has raised questions about the implications of the transfer of potentially hazardous technology to the developing countries. Even after 20 years, Bhopal has not recovered. In this article, we present what happened and why and what lessons can be learned at this terrible cost. Keywords: hazards; green revolution; methyl isocyanate; multinationals; pesticides; poisonous gas; safety failures; Union
The Bhopal Disaster of 1984
Roli Varma and Daya R. Varma Bulletin of Science Technology & Society 2005 25: 37 DOI: 10.1177/0270467604273822 The online version of this article can be found at: http://bst.sagepub.com/content/25/1/37
Published by: http://www.sagepublications.com On behalf of:
National Association for Science, Technology & Society
Additional services and information for Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society can be found at: Email Alerts: http://bst.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts Subscriptions: http://bst.sagepub.com/subscriptions Reprints: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.nav Permissions: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav Citations: http://bst.sagepub.com/content/25/1/37.refs.html
>> Version of Record - Jan 5, 2005 What is This?
Downloaded from bst.sagepub.com at University of Wollongong on March 3, 2012
BULLETIN OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY & SCIENCE / Month 2005
Varma, Varma / BHOPAL DISASTER 10.1177/0270467604273822
The Bhopal Disaster of 1984
Roli Varma University of New Mexico Daya R. Varma McGill University The 20th anniversary of the Bhopal calamity fell on December 3, 2004. The world’s worst industrial disaster in Bhopal, India, happened because of inadequate maintenance by Union Carbide and poor monitoring by the Indian authorities. Malfunctioning safety measures, inappropriate location of the plant, and lack of information about the identity and toxicity of the gas worsened the effects of the accident on people and livestock. The Bhopal disaster has raised questions about the implications of the transfer of potentially hazardous technology to the developing countries. Even after 20 years, Bhopal has not recovered. In this article, we present what happened and why and what lessons can be learned at this terrible cost. Keywords: hazards; green revolution; methyl isocyanate; multinationals; pesticides; poisonous gas; safety failures; Union
Citations: http://bst.sagepub.com/content/25/1/37.refs.html >> Version of Record - Jan 5, 2005 What is This? Downloaded from bst.sagepub.com at University of Wollongong on March 3, 2012 BULLETIN OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY & SCIENCE / Month 2005 Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, Vol. 25, No. 1, February 2005, 37-45 DOI: 10.1177/0270467604273822 Copyright 2005 Sage Publications Downloaded from bst.sagepub.com at University of Wollongong on March 3, 2012 The Shock and Awe It was just past midnight on December 2, 1984 Downloaded from bst.sagepub.com at University of Wollongong on March 3, 2012 40 mond, 1985). There is little substance to the UCIL claim that the accident was a result of sabotage by some disgruntled workers. Downloaded from bst.sagepub.com at University of Wollongong on March 3, 2012 Varma, Varma / BHOPAL DISASTER Downloaded from bst.sagepub.com at University of Wollongong on March 3, 2012 42 BULLETIN OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY & SCIENCE / February 2005 Around midnight, the operator noticed unusually high pressure in Tank 610 and reported this to the production assistant (Diamond, 1985; R