Private Story
The Toxic Legacy of the Green Revolution
The Union Carbide (now DOW Chemical) pesticide manufacturing plant, established to boost India's "Green Revolution," leaked 27 tons of Methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas on December 2, 1984. The world’s worst industrial disaster killed close to 8,000 people and exposed over half a million people to the toxic gas, causing temporary and permanent disabilities.
The health impacts of the exposure to MIC are being passed down to the next generations. Toxic chemicals from the abandoned plant continue to contaminate the soil and groundwater. This photo essay documents the toxic legacy of India’s Green Revolution.
For over three decades the Indian government has continued to show negligence in providing relief to the victims, cleaning up the contamination and punishing the perpetrators. In order to entice foreign investments, developing countries often overlook the environmental, health and safety violations of the corporations that set up operations within their borders.
After a 26-year long legal battle, the Indian court sentenced the chairman of UCIL and seven others guilty of causing death by negligence, while the US corporation responsible for the disaster went scot-free. For many Bhopalis, the Green Revolution continues to be a lifelong curse.
10,792
