While the name of chemical giant Dow Chemical might not ring a bell, these images will certainly take you right back to the suffering that broke out 33 years ago in December 1984 – which is where Dow comes in.
This elderly woman was badly injured when exposed to the poisonous gas. Everyone else in her family died.
It will be 33 years since the deadly Bhopal gas leak in the Union Carbide pesticide plant, a wholly-owned subsidy of Dow Chemical. Officially, the disaster claimed over 3,000 lives and injured over five lakh. Unofficial estimates are pegged far higher.
Gangaram had come to Bhopal to get treatment for leprosy at the Hamida Hospital. He had just been cured, when the toxic gas hit the city. Now, he is dependent on others for survival, again.
Dow Chemical, which owns Union Carbide, inked a $130 billion merger with DuPont in September 2017. On the eve of the merger, Bhopal Medical Appeal, along with Soul, began a campaign with the hashtag #DontBuryBhopal to ensure the voices of the countless victims don’t go unheard again.
The campaign aims to ensure that those who died or were debilitated in the aftermath of the gas leak are not forgotten.
A man carries the body of his dead wife past the deserted Union Carbide Factory, the source of the toxic gas that killed her the night before In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, thousands of sick children were brought to the state government-run Hamida Hospital, their parents too ill to take care of them properly A family suffering from serious eye and lung damage. Skulls discarded after research at the Hamida Hospital. Medical experts believe that the toxic gas inhaled by the people of Bhopal may have affected the brain.
Over 30 years ago, a horrific gas leak in India brought devastation when the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal began leaking 27 tons of the deadly gas. Half a million people were exposed to the gas and over 25,000 have since died as a result of the exposure.
The Bhopal Medical Appeal
Nanko, now 76 years old, was independent and able to provide for his family. Since the disaster he has become a beggar. Picture taken in 2001.
Soul’s campaign aims to inspire a large reaction on social media to help force Dow Chemical and DuPont to stop disregarding Bhopal victims’ health and basic rights.
Dow and DuPont’s merger will create the world’s largest chemical company, but it could also bury the world’s worst chemical disaster beneath a mountain of corporate red tape. New generations of Bhopalis are sick and dying. If enough people raise their voices together, Dow and DuPont will no longer be able to ignore their suffering.
(This article was first published on 2 September and has been reposted from The Quint’s archives to mark 33 years since the Bhopal Gas Tragedy.)
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