The Incident At Bhopal Essay Research Paper — страница 3

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medical care.(4) RESULTING from the incident at Bhopal is among other things, increased spending on safety and environmental precautions. In 1984, safety represented 1% of spending. It has now increased to over 4%.(16) It is difficult to estimate whether this represents effective spending, but the increased revenues devoted to safety certainly cannot hurt. Companies have begun attempting to design plants that are ?idiot proof? as well as ?vandal proof? and are starting to realize the need for back-up equipment, since they will be blamed in instances of disaster.(12) Public opinion is an influencing factor in the U.S., but abroad, it is not very effective in motivating big companies to change their safety practices. However corporate banking DOES influence international business.

Since the Bhopal incident, banks have begun turning down loans over environmental concerns. This has to do with concern over liability and monetary loss instead of any humanitarian concern, but it has the same end result.(16) Companies that show a poor track record in regard to safety do not get to have the business opportunities that they would otherwise have. The World Bank insists that projects receiving its loans comply with safety standards. This includes complying with safer processes to replace more hazardous ones.(13) In 1985, Dr. Gareth Green of John?s Hopkins University School of Public Health and Hygiene, remarked to the Journal of the American Medical Association, ?I think we need more knowledge about the location and quantities of hazardous substances around the

country. There needs to be developed plans for dealing with problems should they occur.?(4) Dr. Green could not have foreseen the future any more clearly if he were psychic. It took awhile, but in 1992, OSHA enacted the Process Safety Management Standard. PSM covers such planning. IT MAY BE CONCLUDED that chemical process plants should be located nowhere near residential areas, whether in the U.S. or abroad. Strategic site location could have eliminated the occurrence at Bhopal almost entirely. The United Nations should have an equivalent department serving an OSHA-like function in third-world countries, with trade sanctions imposed on those who do not comply. The U.N. has been involved in many less humanitarian ventures recently. Why not something purely protective in nature? It

may also be concluded that the value American chemical companies place on human life depends largely on where the person lives and the penalties involved when lives are lost. Bibliography References/ (1) ?Avoiding Future Bhopals: In the Aftermath of Catastrophe, What Can We Learn From History?s Worst Industrial Accident?? ENVIRONMENT, Vol. 27, Sept 1985, p. 6-13. (2)?Environmental Surprise: Expecting the Unexpected.? Kates, William. ENVIRONMENT, Vol. 38, March 1996, p. 6-7. (3)?Fallout From a Chemical Catastrophe.? Peterson, Ivar. SCIENCE NEWS, Vol. 126, Dec 15, 1984, p. 372. (4)?After Coping With Crisis, Medicine Ponders Sequelae.? Marwick, Dr. Charles. JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, Vol. 253, April 12, 1985. (5)?Persistently Toxic: The Union Carbide Accident In

Bhopal Continues to Harm.? Mukerjee, Modhusree. SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, Vol. 272, June 1995, p. 16. (6)?The Fallout From Bhopal.? Lepkowski, William. SCIENCE DIGEST. Vol. 94, Jan 1986, p. 52. (7)?Union Carbide Officials Face Prosecution.? Kumar, Sanjay. NEW SCIENTIST, Vol. 138, May 1, 1993, p. 8. (8)?BHOPAL: 15th Anniversary.? WWW.Corpwatch.org/Bhopal. (9)?Bhopal: The Lesson Sinks In.? THE ECONOMIST, Vol. 295, June 22, 1985, p. 91. (10)?Permanent Scars of the Bhopal Catastrophe.? DISCOVER. Vol. 7, April 1986, p. 9. (11)?What We Can Learn From Bhopal.?Speth, James. ENVIRONMENT, Vol. 27, Jan/Feb 1985, p 15. (12)?Gassed in Bhopal.? THE ECONOMIST, Vol. 293, Dec 15, 1984, p. 12-14. (13)?Poisoned Legacy.? THE ECONOMIST, Vol. 293, Dec 15, 1984, p. 77-78. (14)?Union Carbide; Not Us.? THE

ECONOMIST, Vol. 294, March 23, 1985, p. 78-79. (15)?New Labor Report on Bhopal Plant.? ENVIRONMENT, Vol. 27, Sept. 1985, p. 23. (16)?Bhopal: Ten Years On.? THE ECONOMIST, Vol. 333, Dec 1994, p. 78-79.