The accident happened in the early morning 1984 12.3, when people in Bhopal, India were sleeping. Union Carbide Company, located in Bhopal, USA, which specializes in the production of highly effective pesticides, caused a large amount of methyl ethyl cyanide, which is known as one of the two major toxic gases in the world, to leak due to negligence in management. Many people were poisoned by this poison gas in their sleep. Some sensitive people first felt difficult to breathe, then coughed violently, their eyes ached, and finally they were weak and unable to walk, so they had to die painfully. In just three days, 8,000 local residents in Bhopal died. By the end of the month, the local death toll had exceeded 25,000. More than 200,000 people are permanently disabled and have suffered great physical and mental injuries. Even more frightening, millions of tons of pesticides have penetrated into the underground of Bhopal. Every year in Bhopal, there are 6.5438+0.2 million to 6.5438+0.5 million people suffering from tuberculosis and cancer. The incidence of birth defects is 10 times of the national average.
1966 Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi launched the green revolution to solve the problem of people's food and clothing, and achieved people's food and clothing by increasing the output of crops. In this context, Union Carbide, the most important pesticide producer in the world, entered India to provide efficient pesticides for Indian agricultural production. The company set up a branch in Bhopal, which can produce 5,000 tons of highly effective pesticides a year, and also planted a time bomb. The factory started production on 1975. The most important chemical component of highly effective pesticides is another methyl ethyl cyanide, which, together with the poisonous gas Fagin used by Germans to poison Jews, is called the two largest poisonous gases in the world. This gas can kill people immediately, even if they survive, they will be blind for life. The gas is so delicate that it can't meet high temperature and water, so it must be cooled in liquid state. The factory uses three double-layer stainless steel tanks to store toxic gases. There is also a purifier and ignition device for neutralizing toxic gases outside the storage tank, which can be described as triple protection.
But in the 1980s, 19, the company lost money year after year, neglected management, and hired some Indians with low educational level to join the company. They don't even know English, let alone how to operate these complicated machines and equipment. In order to save costs, United Carbide Company of the United States stopped the cooling system above the poison gas tank from time to time. It is said that it can save 30 dollars a day. Before the accident broke out, a safety inspection team informed the company's senior management that the company had a hidden danger of 6/kloc-0, but the company ignored it. The most exasperating thing is that when the gas leaked, the patient was taken to the hospital. Doctors and nurses don't know what the composition of this gas is and ask the company to disclose its composition. However, it was rejected, but the company said that it involved trade secrets and could not disclose it. Many people could have been treated, but they died because of trade secrets. The Indian people demanded compensation of $85 billion from the company, but only lost $260 million. The company was later merged by Dow Chemical Company of the United States, and the case was dropped. The most tragic thing is that many people at the bottom of India who died and were disabled in this disaster didn't get a penny.