TEN YEARS ago on December 2 1984 while the people of the Indian city of Bhopal slept a leak in the Union Carbide pesticide plant spread lethal methyl isocyanate gas, poisoning close to half a million people.
That night alone 2,000 people died. The total has risen to 10,000, while thousands more have been blinded or developed kidney and liver illnesses, and women's reproductive systems have been permanently harmed.
Even after local managers of the plant and a hazards team from the USA pointed out that necessary safety precautions had not been taken, the Union Carbide head office refused to spend any extra money to protect the lives of workers and the surrounding community.
This is a a disaster that never should have happened. Had lives been placed above profits, it never wolle Union Carbide, among the world's top ten chemical companies, has refused to accept responsibility for its callous lives or adequately to compensate for the medical costs of survivors and or bereaved families for the loss of their main bread-winners.
Matters were made worse by the involvement of the indian government (a part-owner of the plant), which obtained a 'full and final' settlement for all compensation claims through the Indian Supreme Court - without consulting any of the survivors' groups.
Negligence
Union Carbide had feared it could be forced into bankruptcy by their corporate negligence. But the Court's decision to award just $470 million against the company was so advantageous that its shares actually rose $2 on Wall Street!
The amount of damages compares unfavourably with what a US citizen might expect. Some years ago 60,000 Americans with asbestosis were awarded $2.5 billion.
Some lives are clearly seen as cheaper than others.
But the furore which erupted in India over the paltry damages award has led to criminal charges being filed against the chief executives of the parent firm and its Indian subsidiary.
Commemorative events are bring held internationally to mark one of the world's worst industrial disasters, and to re-focus attention on the on-going struggles of the. gas-affected people of Bhopal for justice.
In London the Permanent Peoples Tribunal on Industrial Hazards and Human Rights is meeting to draft an International Convention.
As long as the głobal economy is run by and for multi-national giants like Union Carbide, this Convention can never be more than a worthy effort.
Putting it into effect demands a planned economy run by workers for the benefit of workers and the poor majority.
• Contact The Pesticides Trust, Eurolink Centre, 49 Effra Rd, London SW2. 0171-2748895.