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The 1984 Bhopal incident is the worst industrial accident in human history, exponentially more deadly than Chernobyl.
Over 500,000 were injured.
Immediate death toll estimates range between 2,000 and 8,000.
An estimated 8,000 more died later from related injuries. pic.twitter.com/4DGllbZLnX
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Gwen Snyder is uncivil
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(thread)
[CW: GRAPHIC]
Philadelphia just came perilously close to experiencing what could have been one of the most horrific industrial accidents in world history.
It's by the force of sheer luck are we not watching thousands of children die slow, painful deaths on CNN today. pic.twitter.com/JBzp6jqZIL
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Gwen Snyder is uncivil
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One quirk of human psychology is that we're very good at absorbing and responding to grim realities once they are playing out in front of us, but very bad at picturing them before they happen-- even if the risk is high.
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There's an obvious evolutionary reason for this: if you found yourself photorealistically picturing what it would be like to be gored by a mastodon, you'd probably die curled up on the floor in your cave before risking the great outdoors.
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It's an asset to cavemen, but not so much for humans assessing large-scale existential risks like climate change, or mass industrial tragedy.
With mass industrial tragedy, though, we at least have history to draw on that can help us viscerally understand what we're risking.
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Looking at that record can help us bypass this evolutionary sleight of hand our mind plays.
That's something we need to to dnow.
Because after yesterday's explosions, many folks with knowledge of the Philadelphia refinery and of history kept repeating the same word: Bhopal.
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Union Carbide planted the seeds of the Bhopal tragedy in 1969, when their Indian subsidiary constructed a plant to produce their popular garden pesticide, Sevin, in Bhopal, India. pic.twitter.com/hfUwEpGDg6
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They produced Sevin by causing phosegene and a second chemical to react and form a third chemical, the deadly toxic MIC.
The MIC was housed in three underground huge pressurized underground tanks, then used as needed to react with a fourth chemical to form the final product. pic.twitter.com/34gAg34sZE
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In 1976, two local labor unions began to sound the alarm about poor maintenance and unsafe working conditions, sending letters to the managers of the plant, the safety inspectors, and the local Ministry of Labor.
The letters went unanswered.
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In 1981, as a worker went about a routine cleaning the factory's pipes, a faulty valve unexpectedly sprayed his body with phosgene, the toxic gas responsible for the majority of chemical warfare fatalities in WW!.
Within 72 hours, he was dead. pic.twitter.com/dBXugYGtmi
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Despite warnings by local unions that the accident had been a result of neglectful maintenance and lack of safety equipment, Union Carbide blamed the fatality on the dead worker, who had removed his mask in a panic.
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After the 1981 death, local reporter Rajkumar Keswani began to document the potential for deadly catastrophe in Bhopal in a series of published reports, the first titled "Save Please, Save This City," the second "Bhopal sitting on the brink of a volcano."
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Just days after his second article went to print, another faulty valve exposed 18 workers to MIC, the deadly chemical responsible for the coming 1984 tragedy.
The title of Keswani's final piece in the series?
"If you don’t understand, you all shall be wiped out." pic.twitter.com/ZiliWg0ph7
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In 1982, nearly fifty workers sustained injury from deadly MIC and phosgene leakes over the course of four separate industrial accidents.
Even as conditions worsened, Union Carbide lessened training requirements and began mass layoffs.
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In response to the increasing urgency of worker complaints, Union Carbide management suggested that workers "develop resistance against toxic substances by drinking six or seven glasses of milk a day and eating a high-protein diet of fish and eggs." pic.twitter.com/Uxa7KudUOp
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At around 11:30 pm on December 2, 1984, workers reported an MIC leak from tank E610 (pictured here); management declined to discuss or address it until after their 12:15 am tea break. pic.twitter.com/wOxL526waB
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Almost as soon as they returned, tank E610 reached a critical state, with pressure and temperature readings off the charts.
The concrete slab above the tank cracked as its safety valve blew open, releasing 30 tons of MIC in the first hour, and 10 more tens in the next.
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The plant's evacuation siren sounded, automatically triggering the public alarms in town. Plant management quickly silenced the public alarm and twice informed the local police that "everything is okay."
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When the public alarm finally sounded again ninety minutes later, a Union Carbide employee came to the police control room to explain that a leak had occurred, but been plugged.
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As the company downplayed the disaster, 30 tons of MIC cascaded downwards towards the residents of Bhopal, settling thickly.
Hearing the alarm but receiving no warning to shelter in place, residents opened their doors to see what was happening, inhaling the deadly chemical. pic.twitter.com/NAF1jYnz6s
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The initial symptoms of choking, vomiting, tears, and uncontrollable coughing awakened residents, who exited their homes and raced to escape, inhaling even more poison as they exerted themselves.
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The gas was dense, twice the weight of air. It settled low to the ground, leaving smaller people-- children-- breathing the highest concentrations. pic.twitter.com/jF06zqtyN8
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By dawn, thousands were dead.
Under-trained doctors, initially told by plant management that the gas was phosphene and later told only the name of the poison and no other details, struggled to care for the thousands overwhelming local healthcare systems. pic.twitter.com/qMR3RKXWW2
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In the gruesome wake of the accident, Union Carbide officials shut down and abandoned the plant, leaving behind thousands of tons of toxic waste-- some buried, some in vast evaporation ponds, some openly exposed to the elements. pic.twitter.com/eYtgV76noT
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From Bhopal.org:
"After the catastrophic gas leak, the factory was locked up and left to rot, with all the chemicals and wastes still there. Union Carbide left the factory and its surrounds without cleaning them..."
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Every year, monsoon rains overflowed "the huge ‘ponds’, the toxins seeped down through the soil, and filtered into underground channels and pools. Wells drawn from these ground water pools serve around 50,000 people living in eighteen townships." pic.twitter.com/HLfhLG7CXe
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The Bhopal disaster caused an estimated total of $4.1 billion in distress and damages.
Union Carbide paid out a total of $470 million (approximately 0.1% of that estimate), a figure based in part on a valuation of human life at the $3.75/day salary they paid Bhopal workers. pic.twitter.com/UsBVaLApIC
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The Union Carbide settlement was so shockingly low that company stock prices shot up at its announcement.
Theen-CEO Warren Anderson was charged with manslaughter in India, but released from custody and permitted to return to the US before trial.
He never returned. pic.twitter.com/k3IFCgiwWl
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DOW Chemical acquired Union Carbide in 2001.
The United States declined to extradite Anderson.
IN 2014, he died peacefully in a nursing home at the age of 94, still a fugitive from Indian justice. pic.twitter.com/GPvbnB1z2S
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So what does this tragedy have to do with the PES refinery in Philadelphia?
A lot.
Thread part 2 starts here.
twitter.com/gwensnyderPHL/…
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(Correction: I put the wrong number of zeroes into my calculator, so this is still a travesty, but not quite as insanely as I first wrote. Thank you for the gentle correction, @daveparke) pic.twitter.com/D8PMvmBXdQ
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