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The Bhopal legacy

The Bhopal legacy In May 1999, Greenpeace International, along with the Bhopal-based NGOs Bhopal Group for Information and Action and Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sanghatana, carried out an investigation of the former UCIL site. Samples of soil were collected both from areas once used for waste disposal, and around the former Sevin plant, where a ruptured and leaking storage tank was found. Groundwater samples were also collected from a number of private wells located amongst the shanty settlements of Bhopal. The aim of the sampling program was to identify organic pollutants and heavy metal contaminants present in and around the former UCIL site. The results of this survey indicate general contamination of the site and immediate surroundings with chemicals arising either from routine processes during the operation of the plant, spillages and accidents, or continued and ongoing release of chemicals from materials which remain dumped or stored on site. Within this overall contamination, some locations sampled indicated the presence of

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