ABSTRACT
The Bhopal disaster, which took place just after midnight on December 3, 1984, is one of the worst industrial accidents in history.1 Forty tons of highly toxic methyl isocyanate, which had been manufactured and stored in Union Carbide’s chemical plant in Bhopal, India, escaped into the atmosphere. The accident killed over 3,500 people who lived in the dispersing chemical’s pathway. Over 300,000 were injured-many seriously and some permanently.2 These figures, as disturbing as they are, however, do not convey the full scope of the tragedy-the families destroyed, the communities impoverished, and the land poisoned.
