Shorter Living, Through Chemistry! The worst disaster in the history of the chemical industry remains 1984's methyl isocyanate leak in the city of Bhopal, which killed 10,000 people, and maimed or blinded more than 100,000 others. Some residents of the area are still dying from ailments related to the 40-metric-ton leak from Connecticut-based Union Carbide's plant. Slapped with a $15 billion damages lawsuit, Carbide countersued the Indian government for failing to regulate the plant! The company eventually paid out $470 million, an award of about $4,700 per casualty. Carbide's current chairman Robert Kennedy vowed to make the company "second to none" in following the Chemical Manufacturers Association's Responsible Care environmental shell game.

Is it India-specific? You betcha! Soon after Bhopal, the Environmental Protection Agency determined that a Carbide Plant in West Virginia had leaked toxic gases 28 times in the preceding five years. But in all those leaks, not one American died!

...but even the worst man-made disasters can't stack up to horrific earthquakes. BACK to the Beginning