Health effects of the toxic gas leak from Union Carbide methyl isocyanate plant in Bhopal: technical report on pathology and toxicology
Contrary to the claims made by Union Carbide Corporation — now The Dow Chemical Company — that the methyl isocyanate (MIC) which killed thousands of people in Bhopal in December, 1984, following a leak in its pesticide unit, was not highly poisonous, a report released by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has established that it caused not only “acute cyanide toxicity” but also “delayed or recurrent cyanide toxicity” due to thermal decomposition of the gas. A technical report of Project 08 of the ‘Health Effects of the Toxic Gas Leak from Union Carbide Methyl Isocyanate Plant in Bhopal’ titled Pathology and Toxicology has claimed to have clearly established, through direct and indirect evidence, acute, delayed and recurrent cyanide toxicity.