The document summarizes the key events related to the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy in India. It describes how the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) plant was built in 1969 to produce pesticides using methyl isocyanate (MIC). There were earlier leaks at the plant in the 1970s and 1980s. On the night of December 2, 1984, water is believed to have entered an MIC storage tank, causing a catastrophic release of MIC gas that killed thousands immediately and exposed over 500,000 people. The leak had long-term health impacts on the surrounding population. The legal proceedings and settlements resulting from the disaster are also summarized.

2. INTRODUCTION
 The UCIL factory was built in 1969 to produce the pesticide using methyl
isocyanate (MIC) as an intermediate. An MIC production plant was added to
the UCIL site in 1979.
 After the Bhopal plant was built, other manufacturers produced carbaryl
without MIC, though at a greater manufacturing cost.
 In the early 1980s, the demand for pesticides had fallen, but production
continued regardless, leading to an accumulation of stores of unused MIC
where that method was used.

4. EARLIER LEAKS
In 1976, two local trade unions complained of pollution within the plant.
 In 1981, a worker was accidentally splashed with phosgene as he was
carrying out a maintenance job of the plant's pipes.
In January 1982, a phosgene leak exposed 24 workers, all of whom were
admitted to a hospital.
During 1983 and 1984, there were leaks of MIC, chlorine, monomethylamine,
phosgene, and carbon tetrachloride, sometimes in combination.

5. LIQUID MIC STORAGE
The Bhopal UCIL facility housed three underground 68,000-litre liquid MIC storage
tanks: E610, E611, and E619.
UCC safety regulations specified that no one tank should be filled more than 50%
(here, 30 tons) with liquid MIC.
In late October 1984, tank E610 lost the ability to effectively contain most of its
nitrogen gas pressure.
At the time of this failure, tank E610 contained 42 tons of liquid MIC.
An attempt to re-establish pressure in tank E610 on 1 December failed, so the 42 tons
of liquid MIC contained within still could not be pumped out of it.

6. THE RELEASE
 By early December 1984, most of the plant's MIC related safety systems were
malfunctioning and many valves and lines were in poor condition.
 During the late evening hours of 2 December 1984, water was believed to have
entered a side pipe and into Tank E610 , which contained 42 tons of MIC that
had been there since late October.
 The pressure in tank E610, although initially nominal at 2 psi at 10:30 p.m., it
had reached 10 psi by 11 p.m.
 By 11:30 p.m., workers in the MIC area were feeling the effects of minor
exposure to MIC gas, and began to look for a leak.

8. ACUTE EFFECTS
 The initial effects of exposure were coughing, severe eye irritation and a feeling
of suffocation, burning in the respiratory tract, breathlessness, stomach pains
and vomiting.
 Thousands of people had died by the following morning.
 Primary causes of deaths were choking, reflexogenic circulatory collapse and
pulmonary oedema.
 The stillbirth rate increased by up to 300% and neonatal mortality rate by
around 200%.

9. DEATHS & INJURIES
 Over 500,000 people were exposed to methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas. The number of
children exposed to the gases was at least 200,000.
 Estimates vary on the death toll. The official immediate death toll was 2,259.
 Others estimate that 8,000 died within two weeks, and another 8,000 or more
have since died from gas-related diseases.
 A government affidavit in 2006 stated that the leak caused 558,125 injuries,
including 38,478 temporary partial injuries and approximately 3,900 severely and
permanently disabling injuries.

11. IMMEDIATE AFTERMATH
 In the immediate aftermath, the plant was closed to outsiders (including UCC)
by the Indian Government.
 The initial investigation was conducted entirely by the CSIR and the CBI.
 The health care system immediately became overloaded. Doctors and hospitals
were not aware of proper treatment methods for MIC gas inhalation.
 Within a few days, trees in the vicinity became barren and bloated animal
carcasses had to be disposed of.

12. SUBSEQUENT LEGAL ACTION
Legal proceedings involving UCC, the United States and Indian governments, local Bhopal
authorities, and the disaster victims started immediately after the catastrophe.
The Indian Government passed the Bhopal Gas Leak Act in March 1985.
On 17 April 1985, Federal District court judge John F. Keenan suggested that 'fundamental
human decency' required Union Carbide to provide between $5 million and $10 million to
immediately help the injured“.
In March 1986, UCC proposed a settlement figure of $350 million.
The Government of India refused the offer from Union Carbide and claimed US$3.3 billion.
Eventually, in an out-of-court settlement reached in February 1989, Union Carbide agreed to
pay US$470 million for damages caused in the Bhopal disaster.

14. LONG-TERM HEALTH EFFECTS
 A number of clinical studies are performed.
 Studied and reported long-term health effects are:
# Eyes: Chronic conjunctivitis, scars on cornea, corneal opacities, early cataracts
# Respiratory tracts: Obstructive and/or restrictive disease, aggravation of TB
# Neurological system: Impairment of memory, finer motor skills, numbness etc.
# Psychological problems: Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
# Children's health: Peri-and neonatal death rates increased. Failure to grow etc.

16. 35 Years Later, Bhopal Gas Leak Failures Resurface In Vizag
Visakhapatnam: An unconscious woman affected by styrene vapour leak from a polymer plant, being carried to a hospital for
treatment, in Visakhapatnam.