Lessons learned? Chemical plant safety since Bhopal.

t was 3 December 1984, a quiet night in Bhopal, India, until a cascade of catastrophic circumstances, system failures, and outright negligence at the Union Carbide pesticide plant led to the accidental release of approximately 40 metric tons of acutely toxic methyl isocyanate (MIC). The dense cloud of deadly vapor spread over the sleeping community. Estimates of immediate and long-term casualties vary; the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB), an independent federal agency, cites more than 3,000 people dying within a few days and at least 100,000 injured. The event is widely acknowledged to be the worst industrial accident in history, leaving as many as 50,000 people partially or totally disabled as of 1994, according to the International Medical Commission on Bhopal. The incident also left a morass of civil and criminal litigation in its wake, as survivors continue their effort to recover what they consider to be appropriate compensation for their long-term pain and suffering.