December 1, 2009
Adds Bhushan: “The profile of chemicals
oils. The lab’s
found
fullwithin
reports,
the research
UCIL factory
method
an
disposal site of UCIL matches the
www.cseindia.org.
chemicals found in the groundwater sam
colonies outside. There is no other source of these chlorinated benzene co
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------pesticides than UCIL.”
For clarifications and details, please cont
Continuing nightmare in Bhopal:
Speaking
CSE
at laboratory
the release of
tests
the soil,
study
Souparno
water
report,
Banerjee
samples
Sunita(souparno@cseindia.or
Narain,
from director, CSE,
Union Carbide
findings suggest that the entireShachi
site is Chaturvedi
highly contaminated.
(shachi@cseindia.org,
The waste sto
9
factory is a small part of the total contamination present in the site. The f
Finds high contamination of pesticides
government
and other
to justtoxins
dispose off the stored waste and ignore the site conta
problem is, therefore, not going to solve the environmental problems from
factory.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Links toxins to production processes
Chronic
of toxicity:
plant.
the health implications
Laboratory tests find same toxins
“The
in factory
groundwater
site in in
Bhopal
Bhopal
is colonies.
leading to chronic toxicity – continuous tiny
Who will be liable for this criminal
leading
negligence
to poisoning
asks CSE?
of our bodies,” explains Narain. “This is different from
poisoning and so the claim that the factory is not dangerous because peo
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------the waste is misleading.” The problem, CSE says, is that the chemicals pr
of the factory are leaching into the groundwater and leading to slow and
Bhopal, December 1, 2009: For
poisoning
more than
of residents.
25 years, the Union Carbide (UCIL) factory
has been contaminating the land and water of Bhopal. Latest tests show that
groundwater in areas even three
The
km
health
awayimpact
from the
of this
factory
slowcontains
poisoning
almost
will be
40enormous,
times
says CSE. Chlo
more pesticides than Indian standards.
benzene compounds (such as di- and tri-chlorobenzene) can affect and d
and blood cells, while organochlorine pesticides can lead to cancers and b
These are the findings of a study
Thereleased
two keyhere
products
todayofbyUCIL
the New
– Carbaryl
Delhi-based
and Aldicarb
research
– were as deadly. T
and advocacy organisation, Centre
impacts
for Science
include damage
and Environment
to the brain
(CSE).
and CSE’s
nervous
Pollution
system, chromosomal a
Monitoring Lab (see note on lab(for
below)
the complete
has tested
listwater
of health
and soil
impacts,
samples
seefrom
Down
inTo
and
Earth cover story, p
around the Union Carbide factory, and found high concentrations of pesticides and heavy
metals inside the factory as well
CSE
as researchers
in the groundwater
have found
outside.
that people living around the accident site co
from diseases ranging from chronic ailments to abnormalities. No one, ho
certain how much of it is related to the gas release and how much has be
because of continuing exposure to toxins.
The lab study and its results
UCIL used to manufacture three
Says
different
Chandra
kinds
Bhushan:
of pesticides:
“The Indian
Carbaryl
Council
(trade
forname
Medical Research was ask
Sevin), Aldicarb (trade name Temik)
long-term
and epidemiological
a formulation ofresearch
Carbarylright
and gammaafter the disaster, but these stud
hexachlorocyclohexane (trade name
summarily
Sevidol).
discontinued
The plantinalso
1994.
used
The
heavy
initialmetals
reports
like
suggested long-term
mercury and chromium. Most of
health
theseeffects
products
on the
and survivors.”
elements are persistent and toxic.
The CSE laboratory chose the same chemicals for its tests.
Who will pay for the clean-up?
In October this year, one waterIfand
thiseight
contamination
soil samples
is accepted,
were collected
the question
from various
is, who
places
will pay for the cle
inside the factory. Eleven moreentire
watersite
samples
of thecame
factory
from
needs
locations
to be outside,
carefullyranging
checkedfrom
and cleaned up, th
colonies next to the factory’s boundary
operationtowill
those
be very
3.5 km
high.
away.
Who will pay for this continuing environmenta
Chemical Company, which has bought over Union Carbide, says it is not r
All the samples collected from within
wants the High
factory
Court
were
tofound
deletetoitbe
from
highly
the contaminated.
list of respondents. Based on le
The waste stored within the premises
by RTI activists,
had Carbaryl
it is content
also clear
of that
9,856
there
parts
is per
pressure
millionto dilute the liability
(ppm) and mercury content of Chemicals,
1,065 ppm.arguing
The soilthat
sample
the company
near the Sevidol
had nothing
plantto
had
do with Union Carbi
2,782 ppm of Lindane; soil from
which
solaroperated
evaporation
the plant
pond (to
hadsee
chromium
the letters,
content
just of
visit
1,065
www.cseindia.org).
ppm, while that from the Sevin plant had mercury concentration of 8,188 ppm. It must
be noted that there is no standard
This for
cannot
thesebepesticides.
acceptable,
Surface
says CSE.
water
The
samples
toxins had
we have
a
found in the fac
pesticide concentration of 0.2805
to the
ppm
production
– which isprocess
561 times
of the
more
plant.
thanItthe
is clear
Indian
that UCIL was dumping
standard.
chemicals and pesticides – in the factory compound over the years it ope
factory. Dow must be held responsible. “Its own annual report shows tha
“The reason this is extremely worrying
the liability
is because
of Unionwe
Carbide
have found
in the the
case
toxins
of asbestos
in the exposure in the US. W
groundwater we have checked denying
from almost
this responsibility
3 km below the
in factory,”
India?” asks
saysSunita
Chandra
Narain.
Bhushan, associate director, CSE and in-charge of the CSE laboratory. All 11 groundwater
samples collected from colonies About
around CSE’s
the UCIL
Pollution
factory Monitoring
were found to
Laboratory
be contaminated
with chlorinated benzene compounds and organochlorine pesticides. Carbamates were
found in four samples. The concentration
In 2003 and
of 2006,
pesticides
the Pollution
was 1.1 to
Monitoring
38.6 times
Laboratory
higher than
(PML) had tested p
the Indian standard. The waterinsample
soft drinks
from (Coca
a hand-pump
Cola andnear
Pepsi).
the Following
Chaurasiaits
Samaj
findings, a Joint Parliam
Mandir in Shiv Nagar – more than
Committee
3 km from
wasthe
setfactory
up by the
– was
Central
the most
government
contaminated.
to evolve
It criteria for se
had the highest concentration of
forCarbaryl
such food
(0.011
items.
ppm,
The 110
PML times
has also
theconducted
standard);tests
Lindane
to determine pesti
(0.004 ppm, 40 times the standard);
levels in
and
human
mercury
blood
(0.024
samples,
ppm,an
24endosulfan
times the standard).
analysis, and a study of tra