Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Today In History: Oops.

On this date in 1984 an equipment failure at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India released several tons of vaporized methyl isocyanate, which is not good for you. In fact, it's so not good for you that a good lungful or three could make you deader than Elvis, as it did for almost 4,000 people downwind from the pesticide plant.

Got any pesticide plants upwind from your house? Are you sure?

10 comments:

Dr. StrangeGun said...

No; but I did grow up about 3/4 mile from an ancient Dynamit Nobel plant, one that according to stories was at one time so polluted that the ground under your feet sparked when you walked.

Dr. StrangeGun said...

Ok, so closer to 3 miles. Still...

http://www.macraesbluebook.com/search/company.cfm?company=543502

Anonymous said...

Ya, the popular joke of the day was something along the lines of "Who has killed more Indians than John Wayne?"

Not meaning to be insensitive and all, it was pretty bad for those involved which was a LOT more than just the ones that died.

Gmac

Anonymous said...

Heretic!

Elvis is not dead. He's working at the Dunkin' Donuts in Billings MT. he was spotted there just last week talking with my common sense and reason, both of which have also been missing for several years.

Anonymous said...

I used to live within 10 miles of a plant that made Ammonium nitrate pellets for the local gold mines. Does that count?


We had both the risk of accidental chemical release and a major explosion as several hundred tons of high explosives cooked off.

B Smith said...

I live just outside the 10-mile radius (which would allow me a government payoff check, if I were but a quarter-mile or so closer) of the now-defunct Fernald Uranium Processing Plant. Woohooo, everyone..glow!!

Anonymous said...

Yes, that incident eventually put UC out of business. . .

Jay G said...

I work for a company that manufactures pesticides.

Probably explains an awful lot about me, doesn't it?

And Elvis isn't dead. He just went home...

Anonymous said...

Shay hut, that's nuthin. The US .gov's current bioterror research station is located on an inaccessible island off Long Island. Homeland Secuirty's new one will be in the middle of Iowa's breadbasket.

I have a world-class refinery 400 feet from my back fence. And I love it. That ought to count for something.

Anonymous said...

The Indian incident and the later incident in West Virginia led to passage of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act by the US Congress. This act mandated states establish an emergency response commission which appointed Local Emergency Planning Committees. It was an unfunded mandate, but continues to be in force today, and local emergency management offices will have contact points and can assist if the LEPC is inactive.