India's Night of Death: Bhopal

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India's Department of the Environment last July announced strict guidelines banning the location of plants that produce such hazardous substances as gases, poisons and explosives in areas where population growth is expected. But whether the ruling was supposed to govern facilities already constructed remained uncertain. More fundamentally, the safety restrictions ran counter to local governments' desire to attract industry. So far, not a single company has been denied permission to build. When the issue of the Union Carbide plant's permit arose in the Madhya Pradesh state assembly in December 1982, then Labor Minister Tarasingh Viyogi took pains to remind his listeners that the plant had cost $25 million to build. "The factory is not a small stone that can be shifted elsewhere," he argued. "There is no danger to Bhopal, nor will there be."

In Bhopal and elsewhere, medical authorities last week began to grow concerned about the long-term effects of exposure to methyl isocyanate. While there is no evidence that the chemical causes cancer, doctors in Bhopal believe that many survivors of the accident may suffer from emphysema, asthma or bronchitis. In addition, some medical experts suspect that the poisoning could result in damage to the liver and the kidneys, and could have other even more harrowing effects. "The gas affects the central nervous system," said Dr. Sanjay Mittal, a doctor at Hamidia Hospital. "In my opinion, this increases the chances of permanent mental retardation." One of Mittal's senior colleagues reported that there had been eight stillbirths at Hamidia on the first day after the accident. "Pregnant women were brought to me in great pain," he said. "They had to be aborted. Children in the womb had stopped kicking and bodies were rejecting fetuses."

A more hopeful diagnosis was provided by William Brown, associate professor of biological sciences at Carnegie-Mellon University. Both respiratory ailments and blindness in people exposed to low levels of the gas will, said Brown, "go away. A chemical reaction is taking place in which the molecules of isocyanate will be turned over and excreted by the system." Even Brown, however, conceded that Bhopal residents who received higher dosages would not be so fortunate. Those who endured total whitening of the eyes would, he admitted, never recover their sight, and those whose lungs were totally coated with gas would probably die of respiratory failure.

Despite the prospect of continuing medical damage, last week's tragedy may have a long-term salutary effect: it awakened a resolve across India that the episode not be repeated. "It is clear that safety standards in this country are unsatisfactory, and that every city with large industry has become a danger zone," editorialized the Indian Express, one of India's most prestigious English-language dailies. It was equally clear that the country, which in its 37 years of independence has weathered floods and famines, riots and rebellions, would nonetheless be haunted and chastened by last week's disaster for decades to come.