1. Group members: Minahil Shaheen - 24919
Pooja Mandhan - 24839
Huzaifa Khan 23949
Submitted to: Mr. Hassan Ali
Bhopal Gas Leak Tragedy
The Night of Death
2.
3. Introduction
What is Bhopal Gas Tragedy?
• A gas leak incident, known as Bhopal Disaster.
• Took place on the night of 2nd and 3rd of December 1984
• At the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant
in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.
• Leakage of Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) and other chemicals
from plant resulted in exposure to hundreds and
thousands of people.
• It is considered to be the world's worst industrial disaster.
4. Background
Bhopal
• Capital city of Indian state Madhya Pradesh (MP)
• Geographically it is the center of India
• In 1960s unemployment rate in MP was high
• People were in desperate need for jobs.
5.
6. Background
UNION CARBIDE CORPORATION
• It is a multinational company
• Its head quarters is in Danbury, USA.
• Came India to expend its business
• Established in 1969 in Bhopal
• Known a Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL)
• It was owned 49.1% by Indian investors including the
Government of India and government-controlled banks
• The plant was setup in order to overcome unemployment
7.
8. Background
Plant Production Process
• The UCIL was built to produce the pesticide named Sevin.
• Sevin was UCC’s brand name for Carbaryl .
• The production of Sevin made by using Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) as an intermediate.
• MIC is highly toxic and irritating material, it is extremely hazardous to human health
• The chemical process had Methylamine reacting with Phosgene to form MIC, which
was then reacted with 1-naphthol to form the final product, carbaryl
11. The Accident
• During the night of 2nd and 3rd Dec,1984
• Water entered in tank E610 which contained more than 40 tones of MIC.
• Resulting exothermic reaction
• Increased the temperature of tank over 200 ℃ and raised the pressure
• Around 30 metric tons of MIC escape in to the atmosphere from the
tank
• The gas keep escaping for 45 to 60 minutes in the atmosphere of
Bhopal
• Weak winds frequently changed direction and helped gas to cover more
area in shorter period of time
12. The Accident
• Gas cloud was composed mainly of denser compounds than
the surrounding air, it stayed close to the ground and spread
outwards through the surrounding communities
• Thousands of people died by the following morning
13.
14. The Devastation
• Over 500,000 people were
exposed to MIC gas.
• The official immediate death
toll was 2,259.
• The government of Madhya
Pradesh confirmed 3,787
deaths related to the gas
release
15. The Devastation
• Around 8,000 died within two weeks
• Another 8,000 or more have since died from gas related diseases.
• A governments affidavit in 2006 stated the leak caused 558,125 injuries
• Including 38,478 temporary partial and around 3,900 severely and
permanently disabling injuries
• 2,000 bloated animals carcasses had to be disposed
19. Factors leading to the incident
What were the causes that lead to the incident?
MIC was stored in a
large tank instead of
small several tanks
MIC was filled beyond
recommended level
Poor maintenance of
the plant
Failure of several safety
systems
Safety systems were
switched off to save
money
Including MIC tank
refrigeration system as
MIC required to be at
0℃
Inappropriate location
of plant
Unskilled labors
Inadequate emergency
action plan
20. • In the early 1980s the demand of pesticides had fallen but
production continued, leading to buildup of stores of unused
MIC
• Same raw materials could have been combined in different
manufacturing order
• Phosgene first reacted with naphthol to form a chloroformate
ester, which then reacted with methyl amine to form Sevin
21.
22. Factors leading to the incident
Contribution to negligence
UCIL didn’t maintained safety rules
• Leaked pipes weren’t replaced
• MIC workers needed more training
• MIC tank alarms hadn’t worked for four years
• The flare tower and the vent gas scrubber had been out of service for fiv
e months before the incident
• To reduce energy costs, the refrigeration system was closed
• The steam boiler, used to clean the pipes, was out of action
• MIC tank pressure gauge was not functioning
23.
24. Health Effects
Short term health effects
• The initial effects of exposure were coughing, vomiting, severe eye
irritation and feeling of suffocation
• The acute symptoms were burning in respiratory tract and eyes, blepharo
spasm, breathlessness and stomach pains
• Findings during autopsies revealed changes not only in lungs but also
cerebral oedema, tubular necrosis of kidneys and fatty degeneration of
the liver
• The stillbirth rate increased by 300% and neonatal mortality by 200 %.
26. Health Effects
Long term effects
• It is estimated 100,000 to 200,000 people have permanent injuries
• Reported symptoms are :
Eyes: chronic conjunctivitis, scars on cornea, corneal opacitie
s, early cataracts
Respiratory tracts: obstructive and/or restrictive disease,
pulmonary fibrosis, aggravation of TB and chronic bronchitis
Neurological system: impairment of memory, finer motor
skills, numbness etc.
Psychological problems: post traumatic stress disorder (ptsd)
Children's health: peri- and neonatal death rates increased.
Failure to grow, intellectual impairment, etc.
27.
28. Aftermaths
• Indian Government sealed the Plant.
• The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) were forbidden to
publish their data on health effects until after 1994.
• The Indian government & UCC denied the fact that permanent injuries were
caused by MIC.
• Withhold scientific data.
• UCIL paid a compensation of $470 million instead of the estimated amount
of $3.3 billion.
• In 2010 7 ex-employees of the company, including the chairman of UCIL
were sentenced to two year imprisonment and fined Rs. 1 lakh approx.
$2000, the maximum punished allowed by Indian law.
29. Aftermaths
• Mr. Anderson, the CEO of the company denied his responsibili
ty for the Bhopal tragedy.
• He was safely sent to U.S at the time of massacre.
• No proper support was provided as around 150,000 survivors
remained chronically ill & helpless.
• Did not filed any suit against UCIL owners.
• Later Dow Chemicals acquired UCIL & refused to pay any liabi
lity.
30. Violation Of Basic Human Rights
• The right to life is an international law that everyone is entitled to, India agreed to
this law in 1979 which states that
“Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No
one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.”
• Another international right that has been violated is the right to highest attainable
standard of health.
“The improvement of all aspects of environmental and industrial hygiene.”
• By building a chemical factory near a populated area means that exposure to
harmful substances such as radiation and harmful chemicals violates this law.
• Lastly, the right to a safe environment has also been violated. Destruction of the
environment at any scale threatens to infringe directly and indirectly upon every
basic human right that exists.
32. Ethical Analysis
Utilitarianism
• Utilitarianism determines right from wrong
by focusing on its outcome or through its
consequences
• Any action that maximize happiness over
pain
• They measure the balance of happiness and
pain through cost benefit analyses
33. Cost Benefit
Thousands of people and animals died The expansion of Indian economy
Survivors suffered injuries with some minor and some
permanently disabling injuries
The plant provided jobs for the residents of
Bhopal
Health hazards to all the people living near the plant
Children that were born after the disaster suffered either
physical or mental disabilities
Contamination around the plant’s surrounding area
People lost their homes because they are forced to
evacuate the city
Disaster made Bhopal unsafe to live in for residents
34. Utilitarianism
• The disaster that happened in Bhopal hardly has any benefits
to the society
• Through the cost benefit analyses it is clear that the disaster
caused pain greater than happiness for the society
• It had more societal costs than societal benefits
• Therefore, Bhopal Gas Tragedy by using the Universal Ethical
Principle of Utilitarianism is morally unacceptable.
35. Marxism
• To Marxists, Bhopal Gas tragedy is a consequence
of industrial capitalism
• Argument: the Bourgeoisie that ran the factory
were trying to save money by overfilling the tanks
reducing the energy cost and not employing
qualified and knowledgeable maintenance staff.
• Marxists might also think the punishment didn’t fit
the crime and view it as “too soft” and beneficial
for the bourgeoisie that commit corporate crime
36. Kantian Ethics
• According to Kant, You must see individuals as an end,
not as A MEANS TO AN END.
• The company should have focused on safety and
precautions of their workers and local community
• They were selfish, concern for their own interest of
maximum profit rather than the safety of their workers
and the local community
• They did not treat their employees with the correct
amount of respect and care as well didn’t concerned
about the safety of the city.
• Therefore according to Kantian ethics the Bhopal
Tragedy was morally unethical
37. Conclusion
• Upon looking at Bhopal gas tragedy through different ethical principles
• We have concluded all the actions done before the incident by UCIL
contributed in its wrongness
• Also the government was not able to provide justice to the victims
• Punishment the executives got was very soft compared to the suffering of
Bhopal residents
• Therefore, actions after the incidents are also morally incorrect
