Forty years on from the Bhopal disaster what lessons have been learnt?

An ominous cloud enveloped the city of Bhopal 40 years ago. The fog of methyl isocyanate that leaked from the Union Carbide pesticide plant late in the night on 2 December 1984 killed thousands instantaneously and injured and maimed over half a million more. It has left an equally murky and devastating legacy. In many ways it’s become a primer on how not to deal with any accident. From ensuring transparency during the investigation to patient care and securing just compensation for victims almost everything seems to have gone wrong.

Of Bhopal’s 1984 population of around 900,000, over 550,000 were affected by the deadly cloud. The poisonous gas cloud that hovered over the city in the early hours of 3 December had mostly dissipated after two hours, by which time thousands had perished in their sleep, out on the roads after stumbling from their beds or later in hospitals.

Methyl isocyanate is extremely toxic and can kill at just 3 ppm. Its vapours are readily absorbed through the lungs or skin and are severely irritating and corrosive to the respiratory tract and eyes. Symptoms of mild methyl isocyanate exposure include cough, chest pain and corneal ulcerations. Acute exposure to high concentrations may be quickly fatal due to respiratory failure and there is no antidote.