Bhopal disaster (1984)

Long term health effects

•   It is estimated that 20,000 have died since the accident from gas-related diseases. Another 100,000 to 200,000 people are estimated to have permanent injuries.[1][2]
•   The quality of the epidemiological and clinical research varies. Reported and studied symptoms are eye problems, respiratory difficulties, immune and neurological disorders, cardiac failure secondary to lung injury, female reproductive difficulties, and birth defects among children born to affected women. Other symptoms and diseases are often ascribed to the gas exposure, but there is no good research supporting this.[1][2]
•   The best, most credible research comes from a clinic established by a group of survivors and activists known as Sambhavna. Sambhavna is the only clinic that will treat anybody affected by the gas, or the subsequent water poisoning, and treats the condition with a combination of Western and traditional Indian medicines, and has performed extensive research, see: http://bhopal.org/index.php?id=20
•   Union Carbide as well as the Indian Government long denied permanent injuries by MIC and the other gases. In January, 1994, the International Medical Commission on Bhopal (IMCB) visited Bhopal to investigate the health status among the survivors as well as the healthcare system and the socio-economic rehabilitation.
•   The reports from Indian Council of Medical Research[15] were not completely released until around 2003.
•   For a review of the research on the health effects of the Bhopal disaster, see Dhara & Dhara (2002).[29]