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Ten Years After Bhopal, Large Quantities of MIC Still Stored
in West Virginia
December 2, 1994
Ten years after the Bhopal disaster, Rhone-Poulenc's
pesticide plant in Institute, West Virginia, continues to
stockpile large quantities of methyl isocyanate (MIC), one of
the gases released in Bhopal. Storage of this chemical poses
an unnecessarily large danger to the residents of the
surrounding Kanawah Valley. MIC, one of many "intermediates"
used in pesticide production, is a flammable and highly
reactive chemical which is extremely toxic by any form of
contact. According to a report released last week by two
U.S. environmental organizations, the Good Neighbor Project
for Sustainable Industries (GNP) and the Environmental
Careers Organization (ECO), R-P continues these practices
despite available technologies that would eliminate the need
for such storage. A local citizens organization, People
Concerned About Methyl Isocyanate (PCMIC), commissioned the
report.
Rhone-Poulenc (R-P) purchased the Institute plant from the
Union Carbide corporation two years after a similar Union
Carbide plant in Bhopal, India released a cloud of MIC around
midnight on December 2, 1984, killing as many as 4,000 people
and injuring hundreds of thousands more. Injuries ranged
from temporary lung, eye and skin irritations and lesions to
impaired lung function, loss of vision, gastro-intestinal
problems, menstrual problems, weakened immune systems,
anxiety and unrelieved depression. Today and tomorrow, events
will be held throughout the world to commemorate the Bhopal
disaster and to highlight the continuing struggle of the
survivors for adequate health care and compensation.
The R-P plant in West Virginia is one of the last plants in
the world, possibly the very last, to continue to store large
quantities of MIC. The author of the study, Milton Lapkin,
Ph.D., stated, "After Bhopal, many corporations that formerly
stockpiled MIC found safer ways of making products --
eliminating either the storage or the utilization of MIC.
However, the R-P Institute plant continues to routinely store
over 125,000 pounds of MIC, and has a rated capacity to store
up to 240,000 pounds of the chemical." (Approximately 80,000
pounds of MIC were released in Bhopal.) According to Sanford
Lewis, Director of the Good Neighbor Project, R-P's top
officials have told him that they have never conducted a
complete evaluation of the options for eliminating bulk MIC
storage.
Lewis notes that "While many chemical plants have installed
various safety mechanisms since 1984, a lesson from Bhopal is
that safety devices can fail. Several safety devices failed
in the 1984 India incident, allowing the deadly cloud's
escape. Safety systems have also failed several times at the
Institute plant, in one case resulting in the hospitalization
of 135 neighbors and workers." According to Lewis, the best
solution is the inherently safe one -- avoiding storage of
these highly dangerous materials entirely.
Because of continuing safety questions and a 1993 explosion
at the R-P plant, an alliance of neighbors, college
professors and labor unions has been seeking permission to
conduct a comprehensive safety audit of the plant. People
Concerned About MIC asked Rhone-Poulenc in June to cooperate
with Dr. Lapkin in his assessment. However, to date the
company has neither allowed a site visit nor provided him
with the in-depth information needed for a full review. With
the release of this interim report, the group once again
calls on the company to improve the safety of the Kanawah
Valley.
People Concerned About MIC secured the services the Good
Neighbor Project for Sustainable Industries (GNP) and the
Environmental Careers Organization (ECO), to asses MIC
reduction opportunities. GNP aids neighbors and workers to
oversee pollution prevention, toxics use reduction and plant
safety by providing strategic and technical support
throughout the U.S. ECO has a program tapping retired
engineers and chemists to provide technical assistance to
citizens' groups on toxics use reduction. Together the
national organizations contracted with Dr. Lapkin, a chemist
who has worked for chemical companies for 35 years, to
undertake the inventory reduction evaluation.
Source: GNP press release, November 28, 1994; Global
Pesticide Campaigner, December 1994; The Ecologist,
September/October 1994.
Contact: The Good Neighbor Project for Sustainable
Industries, P.O. Box 79225, Waverly, MA 02179 U.S.; phone
(617) 489-3686/ (617) 489-2482; email sanlewis@igc.apc.org.
For an automatic electronic flyer on The Good Neighbor
Project you can send a message to goodneighbor-
info@econet.apc.org. For a copy of the report, send US$5.00
to GNP.
The Bhopal Disaster -- The Tenth Anniversary
December 2 and 3, 1994, mark the ten year anniversary of the
Bhopal Disaster. The December issue of the Global Pesticide
Campaigner focuses on the disaster and what has happened
since -- both in India and around the world. Articles
include:
-- The Bhopal Tragedy: Ten Years After by Joshua Karliner
-- Where Does the Circle Begin? The Global Dangers of
Pesticide Plants by Angus Wright
-- The Disaster at ANNAVERSA, Cordoba, Mexico by Jorge de
Leon Rodriquez
-- and a report on the International Medical Commission on
Bhopal.
The lead article, The Bhopal Tragedy: Ten Years After, is
available online. Contact paninfopubs@igc.apc.org to receive
a copy or to obtain information on how to receive a hardcopy
of the Global Pesticide Campaigner
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