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Bhopal continues to suffer from Carbide contamination, 25 years later | Twenty five years after one of the most horrific industrial tragedy in which over 3000 people were killed and thousands affected, Bhopal continues to suffer as a latest report has revealed that the Union Carbide (UCIL) has been contaminating the land and water of the city.
According to latest tests conducted by the Centre for Science and Environment
(CSE), a New Delhi based research and advocacy organisation, groundwater in areas
even three kms away from the factory contains almost 40 times more pesticides
than Indian standards. In October this year, one water and eight soil samples
were collected from various places inside the factory. Eleven more water samples
came from locations outside, ranging from colonies next to the factory's boundary
to those 3.5 km away. All the samples collected from within the factory were found
to be highly contaminated. "The reason this is extremely worrying is because we
have found the toxins in the groundwater we have checked from almost three km
below the factory," said Chandra Bhushan, associate director, CSE and in-charge
of the CSE laboratory. "All 11 groundwater samples collected from colonies around
the UCIL factory were found to be contaminated with chlorinated benzene compounds
and organochlorine pesticides," the report said. "The profile of chemicals found
within the UCIL factory and in the waste disposal site of UCIL matches the chemicals
found in the groundwater sample in the colonies outside. There is no other source
of these chlorinated benzene compounds and pesticides than UCIL," added Bhusan.
Speaking at the release of the study report, Sunita Narain, Director, CSE, said
inadequate planning and steps taken by the government to dispose off the chemical
waste has resulted in the massive contamination. "Our findings suggest that the
entire site is highly contaminated. The waste stored within the factory is a small
part of the total contamination present in the site. The focus of the government
to just dispose off the stored waste and ignore the site contamination problem
is, therefore, not going to solve the environmental problems from the UCIL factory,"
Narain said. She highlighted that the continuous exposure to the toxic chemicals
could have hazardous impact on the health of the people residing in these areas
near the UCIL plant. "The factory site in Bhopal is leading to chronic toxicity
- continuous tiny exposure leading to poisoning of our bodies. This is different
from acute poisoning and so the claim that the factory is not dangerous because
people can touch the waste is misleading," explained Narain. "The Indian Council
for Medical Research was asked to conduct long-term epidemiological research right
after the disaster, but these studies were summarily discontinued in 1994. The
initial reports suggested long-term and deadly health effects on the survivors,"
added Bhusan.
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