Ecological catastrophes - part 2

Hi all,

This is my second post about major ecological catastrophes. Last time I wrote about Aral Sea ( thanks for interesting comments ). Today I would like to present you some information about city of Bhopal.  

From 1979 to 1984 Union Carbide's plant in Bhopal, India was producing carbaryl pesticide . In this process they were using extremely toxic intermediate chemical - methyl isocyanate (MIC).
During the nights of 2–3 December, a large amount of water entered tank containing MIC. A chemical reaction started, rising temperature and pressure. This resulted in tank explosion and exposure of over 500,000 to toxic gases. This event is known today as Bhopal disaster.

From half of million of people exposed to toxic gases 20 000 have died and over 100 000 have permanent injuries.The initial effects of exposure were coughing, vomiting, severe eye irritation and a feeling of suffocation. Medical staff were not prepared for thousands of people which came to hospitals. They also wasn't informed about proper MIC poisoning treatment. Plant was located in highly populated area. Today thousands of people still suffers from eye problems, respiratory difficulties, immune and neurological disorders, cardiac failure secondary to lung injury, female reproductive difficulties. After tragedy the plant was closed, but its terrain remained polluted. In 1991 water from over 100 tube wells was declared to be unfit for drinking.

There is many controversy about how operations of Uninion Carde contributed to the tragedy. Since 1979 there was available technology for producing carbaryl without MIC. UC never used it in Bhopal because it was more expensive. But that's not the last thing UC did to reduce costs of production. There is known that plant was working without proper servicing, money was being saved on alarm and backup systems, cooling systems, proper durable materials (ex. - for valves), workers training (manuals were giving them only in English language), etc. UC had reports showing that such disaster can happen, but did nothing to prevent it. Right after the event UC claimed that reason of water entering MIC tank was sabotage and all safety devices were in working order.



In the next 10 years Union Carbide paid over 100 million dollars for helping victims of the catastrophe. What still remains a problem is terrain pollution. Many toxic materials were never properly cleaned and even now remains a threat. This was remained in 2004 by a group called "The Yes Man". One of them claiming to be company representative announced on BBC that company had agreed to clean up the site and compensate victims with found of 12 billion dollars. 'Joke' resulted in 2 billion dollars drop in company's market value, but reminded of situation of people Bhopal.

Questions. :

What do you think about companies which move their production to countries with cheap workforce ?
Do you think they keep up standards when nobody looks at their hands?