Marina Forti
ilmanfesto.it
taps are rare, workers emerged in the slums around the old Union Carbide factory, the industrial area of \u200b\u200bBhopal, India: water is drawn for the more from public fountains that fish from wells, but is contaminated. What has long been known, and two recently published studies confirm this: the water caught within a few kilometers from the plant contains toxic substances in quantities far above the threshold of the law.
One is the study published by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in New Delhi has found pesticides in concentrations 40 times above safety standards in water drawn from Indian to 3 km from the plant. Then there is the investigation of the Study Group British Bhopal Medical Appeal: found carcinogens such as carbon tetrafluoride in percentages up to 2,400 times higher than World Health Organisation guidelines. The source of contamination is not a mystery lies in the rusted carcass of the old factory of fertilizers and pesticides, in disuse for 25 years now.
Yeah, it's been a quarter of a century ol the night all to remember Bhopal as hell. It was the night between 2 and 3 December 1984. The system had overheated, a tank exploded, leaving out 40 tons of chemicals. The gas, "fired" at high pressure, fully invested in the hamlet of Jayaprakash Nagar, in front of the gates, and other neighboring slum. Thousands of people died that night smothered - 1,600 according to the official account, nearly 6,000 for organizations working with victims. Many more have died so slow in the months and years that followed, consumed by lung cancer and other diseases. The budget has already exceeded twenty thousand victims. For this Bhopal, capital of the state of Madhya Pradesh in central India, the chemical industry today is like Hiroshima is the nuclear holocaust.
The point is that after so many years, the legacy of the "gas tragedy 'remains high. Those who survived the gas living with cancer, respiratory diseases, nervous. Many have lost relatives. In 1989 the Government of India, c ome sole representative of the victims in a case against Union Carbide accepted a plea bargain: The company paid $ 470 million in damages. The agreement was much criticized. And because the compensation was calculated in 3,000 dead and a hundred thousand survivors - but then the courts have recognized over 574mila people 'gas affected' five times more. Painful story, compensation: between '95 and '96 received the victims recognized one-off 15 thousand rupees each, about $ 400 then. No pension for those who had been invalid. And then, with that plea bargaining Union Carbide closed its responsibilities. Only later did the "International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal" has opened p
held the New York court a lawsuit against Union Carbide - which in 2001 was acquired by Dow Chemical, however, ruled out the old plant Bhopal, which now belongs to the Indian government. The legacy is even heavier because in that plant are rusty I thousands of tons of toxic waste exposed to the weather, while other tons of waste are stored in tanks badly isolated: those that CONTAM inane water. But the responsibility of the b onifica is rebound from Dow Chemical, Government of Madhya Pradesh, the central government. While tens of thousands of people continue to absorb poisons, but not included as "gas affected people " 
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