On Sept. 17, the Institute for Policy Studies hosted an event in Washington, D.C., commemorating the 1984 Union Carbide chemical disaster in Bhopal, India. The worst industrial accident in world history, the gas leak at the Union Carbide pesticide factory in Bhopal killed between 3,000 and 10,000 people in the first weeks, permanently injured hundreds of thousands and exposed over half a million to highly toxic chemicals including methyl isocyanate.
The panel at the event included three activist survivors of the Bhopal disaster — Rachna Dingra, Bati Bai Rajak and Farhat Jahan — who were joined by Jami Wallace, the founder and executive board president of the Unity Council for the East Palestine Train Derailment. The harrowing accounts of both tragedies delivered by the panelists revealed the parallels between the Union Carbide gas leak in Bhopal and the Norfolk Southern freight derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.
Both disasters resulted from egregious corporate negligence. In the case of Bhopal, there were multiple incidents in years leading up to the 1984 gas leak that killed or hospitalized workers at the Union Carbide pesticide plant. In 1982, a team of American engineering experts conducted an inspection of the Union Carbide factory. In their report, which was sent to Union Carbide’s Management Committee, the inspectors wrote explicitly about the, “potential for the release of toxic materials,” as well as a consequent “runaway reaction” due to “equipment failure, operating problems, or maintenance problems.”
Dingra, Rajak and Jahan described the horror that struck Bhopal the night of Dec. 3, 1984, when water entered the methyl isocyanate tank through a leaky pressure valve at the Union Carbide factory and produced a lethal cloud of methyl isocyanate, hydrogen cyanide and monomethylamine — not unlike the chemical mushroom cloud that towered over East Palestine after the derailment on Feb. 3, 2023.
People running for their lives, eyes burning in the toxic fumes, screaming, pregnant women miscarrying in the streets lined by the poisoned bodies of deceased victims — this was the scene of the crime committed against the people of Bhopal by Union Carbide as described by the three survivors on the panel.
Similarly, greed and corporate negligence forced the people of East Palestine to flee their homes after Norfolk Southern urged a vent-and-burn derailment response that, as the National Transportation Safety Board found in their investigation, was completely unnecessary. Toxic chemicals spread far beyond the site of the derailment, polluting air, soil and water across 16 states and impacting an estimated 110 million people — one-third of the U.S. population. The railcars carried not only vinyl chloride, but also ethyl acrylate and isobutylene, both considered extremely toxic and probably carcinogenic.
Wallace described the widespread suffering and hardship experienced by the people of East Palestine and surrounding communities following the derailment. When residents were told to evacuate, the two hotels in the area filled up quickly. Like many other East Palestine residents, Wallace, along with her husband and daughter, had to share a hotel room with extended family. Those who could not find shelter nearby had to travel long distances to find hotels with rooms available.
Norfolk Southern has been quick to highlight its supposed humanitarianism by publicizing the settlement payments the railroad corporation has agreed to give East Palestine residents. As Wallace pointed out, this is merely adding insult to injury. The payments, based on proximity to the site of the wreck and the number of people in each household, hardly amount to anything — and in many cases, amount to nothing at all. This is because, as Wallace explained at the IPS event, Norfolk Southern deducted the hotel bills, meals and other day-to-day expenses East Palestine residents accrued while displaced because of the derailment from the settlement payments. Thus, some residents of East Palestine ended up receiving zero compensation for their suffering.
Today, the soil and creeks in East Palestine are still contaminated with the hazardous chemicals released from the derailment and asinine vent-and-burn pushed by Norfolk Southern. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources estimates nearly 40,000 minnows and 5,500 other species — small fish, crayfish, amphibians and macroinvertebrates — died as a result of the derailment. Residents of East Palestine continue to experience health problems including headaches, nosebleeds and other ailments from chemical exposure, while Norfolk Southern boasts about the company’s commitment to cleaning up the disaster area.
What the people of Bhopal and East Palestine share most of all is that they live in what corporations consider ‘sacrifice zones’ — areas populated by poor and working-class people viewed as expendable — places that are wantonly offered as sacrifices at the altar of the market.
To this day, Union Carbide — and now Dow Chemical — refuses to accept responsibility for the devastating Bhopal gas leak. Like Norfolk Southern, Union Carbide agreed to pay scraps to its victims. Many survivors of the world’s worst industrial accident received as little as $300 or less from the corporation whose negligence upended their lives. Many survivors haven’t received anything at all.
The tragedies in Bhopal and East Palestine were both avoidable. Union Carbide and Norfolk Southern, in the pursuit of profit, cut costs, neglected maintenance and ignored equipment defects. The result was destruction of human lives. Whether blame is placed on a leaky valve or a faulty wheel bearing, the true culprit is corporate greed and an economic system that prioritizes profit over people.
The stark and grim truth that stares us in the face is that, so long as business is allowed to continue as usual, there will be more catastrophes like those that shook Bhopal and East Palestine. Indeed, an ever-increasing number of communities populated by poor and working-class people all over the world will find themselves cruelly designated as sacrifice zones.
Though the future appears dark, it is heartening to know activists from impacted communities like Dingra, Rajak, Jahan and Wallace continue to fight and raise the voices of the people whose lives were ravaged by Union Carbide and Norfolk Southern. The International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal and the Unity Council for the East Palestine Train Derailment should be commended for their efforts, as they inspire hunger for justice and a fighting spirit in everyone, from Bhopal to East Palestine, demanding a more humane world.
Feature photo: Deteriorating section of the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal taken in 2008. Photo credit: Simone.lippi at it.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 2.0)
