Union Carbide Presses Bhopal Sabotage Theory

Abstract

For almost two years, Union Carbide has been asserting that the cause of the December 1984 disaster at its pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, was a act by a disgruntled plant worker. It says further that the government of India knows what happened and is covering up the truth. It says the only way in which the 1000 to 2000 lb of water could have gotten into the methyl isocyanate (MIC) storage tank 610 to set off the violent reaction was by direct, deliberate introduction. So certain is Carbide of its claim that in May 1987 it prepared a three-minute videotaped simulation of the sabotage scenario. The government of India, which is suing Carbide for $3.1 billion in Bhopal District Court in the civil case, and also is pursuing criminal charges, has dismissed the claim as baseless and legally spurious. It says investigations by its Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Council for Scientific ...