[South India Churchman] In December 1984 40 tonnes of methyl isocynate, hydrogen cyanide and other lethal gases leaked from the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, India. Within hours, 8,000 people were dead, 500,000 more sustained permanent injury, and land and water were catastrophically contaminated. Over the following weeks 18,000 more people died and the long-term consequences of the leak began to be grasped.

In anticipation of the fifteenth anniversary of the gas leak, the Synod Youth Department of the Church of South India organised a fact finding mission to Bhopal. In the October 1999 issue of the South India Churchman, Sam Jacob reports on his experiences as a member of this mission. He found the visit redefined his whole understanding of the church and spirituality.

The situation in Bhopal today is one of long term illness, continuing contamination, official neglect, international apathy and countless stories of human misery, injustice and suffering. Health facilities in Bhopal are inadequate, as are employment and education opportunities. Survivors continue to suffer from chronic breathlessness, impaired vision, fertility problems, recurrent fevers, neuro-muscular disorders, fatigue, depression, cancer and immune system damage. It is very likely that many of these conditions will be inherited by future generations of the survivors.

Women who were made infertile by the tragedy have been deserted by their husbands. Other young women victims suffer discrimination in marriage. Loss of health means loss of income for everyone affected. Malnutrition remains a chronic problem for many.

Fifteen years on the story of Bhopal has become old news, but the past and current failings and injustices are forgotten. Union Carbide withholds information on the long term effects of the gas; Indian government medical research remains a national secret. Original demands of US$3.3 billion compensation were eventually settled for US$470 million as full and final compensation for all past, present and future claims. Very little of this money reached the victims in Bhopal. Union Carbide continues to trade profitably.

Two hundred wells around the factory are still unfit for drinking and the effects of the leak are still visible in the trees, plants and wildlife in the area. The human misery continues with little hope of improvement.

Sam Jacob asks: If this threat to life is not the church's concern, then what is its concern? If it is not their concern, then whose concern is it?