carbide

This Graffiti may offend some people's sensibilities. It use to do so for me, but when I read the information below of the negligence and callousness of Union Carbide I understand why it has become know as Killer Carbide

The 1994, Fortune 500 list of US-based companies ranks Union Carbide Corporation ll4th (down from 88th in l993) with total assets of US $4.7billion. Since the Bhopal disaster the corporation has followed the course of being a lean mean company. In 1986, it sold its battery division to Ralston-Purina, its agricultural products division to Rhone-Poulenc and its home and auto products business to First Brand in order to concentrate on its 3 core businesses: chemicals and plastics, industrial gases and carbon products. In '90, Union Carbide sold parts of its business to Mitsubishi and some chemical facilities were sold in 1992.

While in 1984 it employed 55,180 people in 137 countries, today Union Carbide operates about 5O manufacturing facilities and laboratories in 20 countries with about 13,000 people in its employ. The company known in the past through its Glad trash bags, Prestone anti-freeze and Eveready batteries now sells solvents, coatings, polyolefines, industrial and specialty chemicals. In 1993, it had sales of more than US$ 4.6 billion. With this kind of thrust and a new name - Union Carbide Chemicals and Plastics Company, Union Carbide seems to be heading back to where it began in 1920, with the manufacture of poison gases for use in World War II.

Union Carbide has a long history of causing death through its peace time industrial activities. Even before it caused Bhopal, the worst industrial disaster in the world, Union Carbide held the record of causing the worst industrial disaster in the USA. In the building of the Hawk's Nest Tunnel in 1930 in W. Virginia, 5000 workers (65% of whom were black) were employed by the corporation. As many as 2000 workers died of silicosis due to lack of protection against exposure to silica dust. In 1981, the Corporation was fined US$ 50, 000 for spilling over 25,000 gallons of propylene oxide, a cancer-causing chemical in the Kanawha river in West Virginia.

The same year 402 employees in Carbide's battery factory in Indonesia were suffering from kidney diseases from exposure to mercury. In July 1985, 998 people in California were poisoned from eating watermelon contaminated with Temik pesticide produced by Carbide (one of the products of its Bhopal factory). In April 1986, the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) charged Union Carbide with 221 safety violations at its Institute plant. The same year in November, Temik showed up in ground water in 15 states. On March 12, 1991, there was an explosion at Union Carbide's chemical plant in Seadrift, Texas. With eighteen of its workers dying from brain cancer, this plant had the second highest concentration of cancer in USA. On September 27, 1994 three workers in Union Carbide's plant in Mexico were killed during maintenance work at the refrigeration unit.

Robert Kennedy is the present Chairman of Union Carbide - for his responsibilities in manufacture and distribution of poisonous chemicals he earns an annual of US$ 15,65,000 which is 500 times more than the damages being awarded for exposure related deaths in Bhopal. Warren Anderson, the former chairman from 1980 to 1986 was personally responsible for the crucial corporate decisions that led to the Bhopal disaster.

Union Carbide's Indian subsidiary, UCIL (Union Carbide India Limited), more known by its brand logo of a cat jumping through the figure of 9, is today being touted as a caged tiger. Though the matter of sale of shares is still pending in the Supreme Court, the purchase of majority share holdings of UCIL by the Williamson Magor group from UCC has been announced. UCIL presently owns 11 factories in the country (four in Calcutta, three in Madras, one each in Hyderabad, Bombay, Lucknow and Srinagar). Their major products are flashlights, photoengraver plates, industrial electrodes, etc. Their annual sale for the year ending 1994 was Rs. 334 crores (US$ 111 million) and their assets worth Rs. 95 crores (US$ 31 million).

UCIL's record of industrial disasters prior to Bhopal is comparable to that of its parent company in USA. In the four years from 1978 to 1982, there were at least six accidents in the Bhopal factory causing injury and death. Plant operator Mohammed Ashraf was killed by a phosgene gas leak on December 26, 1981. Two other workers were injured. In October 1982, Methyl Iso Cyanate escaped from a broken valve seriously affecting four workers and causing eye irritation and breathlessness among people in the nearby communities.

Union Carbide Corporation, with a majority 50.9% share holding in UCIL, controlled all decisions regarding design, operation, maintenance and management of UCIL facilities in India from its Headquarters at Danbury, Connecticut. At the time of the disaster, Keshub Mahindra was the Chairman, Vijay Gokhale, the Managing Director and Kishore Kamdar the Vice President of UCIL. These three senior officials, along with five officials of the Bhopal factory are currently facing criminal proceedings for culpable homicide, causing grievous hurt, and poisoning and killing of animals through the Bhopal disaster.

Why are they responsible?

There are good reasons for holding UCC, UC(E), UCIL, W. Anderson and the eight Indian officials responsible for the death and suffering caused by the Bhopal disaster, some of which are:

unsafe location and design

The pesticide factory was built in 1969 in the midst of densely populated settlements. Union Carbide chose to store and produce MIC, one of the most deadly chemicals (permitted exposure levels in USA and Britain are 0.02 parts per million) in an area where nearly 120 000 people were living within 2 kms. of the factory in 1984.

The MIC plant was not designed to handle a run-away reaction. When the uncontrolled reaction started, MIC and its reaction products were flowing through the scrubber (meant to neutralize MIC emissions) at more than 200 times its designed capacity.

prior knowledge

A Union Carbide Safety Safety Team auditing the Bhopal plant in May 1982, noted a total of 61 hazards, 30 of them major and 11 in the dangerous phosgene / MIC units. It had warned of a "higher potential for a serious incident or more serious consequences if an incident should occur". This knowledge prior to the incident was available to the accused senior officials and many of the conditions listed in the safety audit were causative elements in the December 2-3 disaster.

A safety report on Carbide's' Methyl Iso Cyanate (MIC) plant at Institute, West Virginia presented to the corporation in September 1984, listed as one of the major concerns the possibility of a "runaway reaction in the Methyl Iso Cyanate unit storage tanks".

hazardous operation and maintenance

Methyl Iso Cyanate in the tank was filled to 87% of its capacity while the maximum permissible is 50%. MIC was not stored at zero degree centigrade as prescribed and the refrigeration and cooling systems had been shut down five months before the disaster as part of UCC's global economy drive. Vital gauges and indicators in the MIC tank were defective. The flare tower meant to burn off MIC emissions was under repair at the time of the disaster and the scrubber contained no caustic soda.

reckless management

As part of Union Carbide Corporation's policy on cutting down costs, the work force in the Bhopal factory was brought down by half from 1980 to 1984 with serious consequences upon safety and maintenance. The work crew for the MIC plant was cut in half from twelve to six workers. The maintenance supervisor position had been eliminated for the work shift on duty at the time of the disaster. The period of safety-training to workers in MIC plant was brought down from 6 months to 15 days.

suppression of information

Union Carbide has not informed the workers of the factory and the neighborhood communities about the hazardous nature of its chemicals before, during or after the disaster. Findings of periodic medical check-ups of workers in the Bhopal factory were sent to the US headquarters but kept secret from the workers. On the morning of the disaster, doctors in the government Hamidia hospital had no information on the leaked gases or how to deal with the effects caused by exposure to them and were overwhelmed with the number of patients and the nature of their problems. When they rang up the factory the plant medical officer Dr. Loya informed them that the leaked gases were similar to tear gas and all that the exposed people needed to do was wash their eyes with water!

In addition to causing the Bhopal disaster, Union Carbide Corporation is directly responsible for prolonging the misery and suffering of the survivors. By withholding medical information on the chemicals it has obstructed the provision of proper medical care. By denying interim relief, as directed by two Indian courts, it has caused deprivation of the survivors. Hazardous chemicals dumped within and outside the factory till 1984 have contaminated the soil, ground water and community wells in the vicinity. In 1991, 7 different chemicals including those likely to cause damage to the respiratory system, kidney and liver and two carcinogens have been found in the soil and ground water. Union Carbide's toxic legacy lingers on in the soil, water and the bodies of men, women and children in Bhopal.

What Union Carbide must do

Assume responsibility for the continuing physical and mental suffering of the Bhopal survivors and provide medical information and necessary services for their long term medical care.
Assume responsibility for the continuing deprivation of the survivors who are too sick to perform their usual jobs and provide for their economic and social rehabilitation.
Union Carbide (TJCC, UCE, UCIL) and its accused officials present themselves in the Bhopal District Court where criminal proceedings are pending against them.