Safety: New Worries About Poison Gas

Could it happen here? That was the question asked by many Americans after last month's disaster at a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, in which a leak of poisonous methyl isocyanate gas killed more than 2,000 people. Two reports released last week about a similar Union Carbide plant in Institute, W. Va., raised new worries. In one, the Environmental Protection Agency found that methyl isocyanate had leaked from the plant 28 times from 1980 to 1984, apparently in small quantities. The EPA is investigating.

The second was written by Union Carbide inspectors and released by Congressman Henry Waxman. It warned that a "runaway reaction" at a tank containing methyl isocyanate could lead to a "catastrophic failure" of the tank. A Union Carbide spokesman said the company took corrective action, but did not inform the Indian plant because it used a different cooling system.