Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Bhopal Disaster Revisited [updated]

Posted by michael on from the when-technology-fails dept.

On December 3, 1984, a chemical plant run by Union Carbide and located in Bhopal, India released about 40 tons of a toxic gas which was an intermediate chemical used in creating pesticides. (That is, the plant was in the business of creating chemicals deadly to life.) Safety at the plant had not been a concern of management; numerous safety systems were offline or non-functional. The gas cloud drifted over the city and killed thousands of people, and inflicted permanent injury to hundreds of thousands more. It was the worst industrial accident to date. Today, the site remains a contaminated wasteland, unusable and never cleaned up. The survivors have been minimally compensated, but as time passes, enough of them have died that compensation may now be in the works. Update: 12/03 15:51 GMT by M : Whoops, just kidding, the Reuters story linked there is wrong; the BBC was apparently hoaxed into putting a Dow spokesman on TV who wasn't actually a Dow spokesman. Dow has no plans to clean up the facility and no plans to compensate the survivors. Hope this clears things up.

14 of 810 comments (clear)

  1. Why is this on Slashdot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Seems like Kuro5hin material to me.

    1. Re:Why is this on Slashdot? by Rooktoven · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      Stuff that matters. Science (with all its pros and cons) is always slashdot material.

      --

      Acquiescence leads to obliteration
    2. Re:Why is this on Slashdot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic
      Nowadays, "Slashdot material" usually falls under one of three categories:

      BU$H IS DUMB

      AMERIKKKA SUCKS

      MICRO$OFT SUCKS

      Please keep this in mind for all your future posts.

      Thank you,
      The Management

    3. Re:Why is this on Slashdot? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      You're a winner.

  2. Re:On Regulation by Rooktoven · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    If I had mod points I'd give you +1 for Insightful Sarcasm.

    --

    Acquiescence leads to obliteration
  3. Re:I shudder to think ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Is your shaking related to seizures from inhaling the deadly gas?

  4. quick linux question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    can anyone recommend a system for setting up a mail server under Linux, that will support multiple virtual domains and virtual users, AND does not rely on MySQL or LDAP (i.e. uses flat text files to store users)?

    1. Re:quick linux question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      +1 funny off-topic troll

  5. You owe me buddy. by headkase · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I think you just broke my sarcasm detector.
    ;)

    --
    Shh.
  6. Re:Sadly, the BBC was duped by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Fortunately, the BBC had the ethics to admit it's mistake.

  7. Re:On Regulation by gowen · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Why do I feel this will end up moderated (-1 too bloody subtle)

    --
    Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
  8. On Dec 3 2004 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    On December 3, 1984, a chemical plant run by Union Carbide and located in Bhopal, India released about 40 tons of a toxic gas

    Yeah well, On December 3, 2004, an Indian on a train run by the MTA and located in New York, NY released about 40 tons of a toxic gas on to the subway...or at least is smelled like that. It could have just been the curry.

  9. Dihydrogen monoxide? by System.out.println() · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    That sounds dangerous.... do any plants in the US use it?

    --
    I've got more mod points and GMail invi
  10. OT: I still have no Gmail account by Wingit · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Sorry to post here, but no email is shown. Eric Johnson aka eric@thejoynt.com.

    If available, I would surely appreciate an invitation. Thanks.

    --
    We win together or suffer without.