Bhopal : A Toxic Legacy

Protests across Bhopal against Union Carbide marked the 10th anniversary of the gas tragedy. Little has changed since, except that more patients are visiting hospitals. The waste is still lying in the factory, poisoning the soil and water. Treatment is difficult because the company refuses to divulge the composition of the chemicals used in the pesticide factory. In 1991, the Supreme Court reinstated criminal proceedings against Union Carbide Photographs by: Pradip Saha

Bhopal : A Toxic Legacy

Bhopal residents affected by the gas leak had to wait for hours before they could reach the counters of the courts for compensation claim. Those who were too ill to stand in the queue could not register claims. The Indian government sued Union Carbide for $3.3 billion but in 1989 settled for $470 million on the Supreme Court’s direction Photographs by: Pradip Saha

Bhopal : A Toxic Legacy

In 1994, hospitals in Bhopal were full of young victims of the gas even though they were not born at the time of the accident. Several of them receiving treatment in clinics and super specialty hospitals opened after the disaster, ran out of the compensation money before finishing the course of treatment Photographs by: Arvind Yadav  

Double Standards

India faces a challenge: how to keep alive its only measure ensuring safety of imported toys. Its ban on import of toys not meeting specified safety standards lapses on January 23. Since Indian toy makers are not required to adhere to any mandatory safety standards it will be discriminatory to impose them on others; it would be a non-tariff trade barrier. One way is to put in place mandatory standards for domestic manufacturers but that is yet to be done.

A free ride

Phthalates have pervaded the toy market without raising much alarm. China that has cornered 70 per cent of the global toy market does not regulate their use. International standards dealing with toy safety ignore them. While EU took the lead in imposing limits for phthalates in toys, the US has only recently passed the law regulating phthalates. Europe

Don’t touch

They lurk inside plastics, and from there migrate to air, food, human body and even unborn babies. Phthalates or phthalate esters are organic chemicals commonly used as plasticizers to make plastic supple. They are responsible for plastic products being cheap, easy to clean—and toxic.

Something for parents to chew on

Eighteen-month-old Ishleen gets a toy almost every week. Whenever her parents visit markets in west Delhi they pick up something for her. Ishleen has a collection of squeezies, soft toys and rattles. “She began teething a year ago. So she chews on just about anything,” said her mother Manjeet Singh.

Inaction discourages positive change in industry

It was in early 2008 that my colleagues at the Centre for Science and Environment had tested household paints for lead content. The issue was not new. Lead in paints had been widely indicted across the world for being a silent poison--particularly when used on walls and items that children would lick or chew.

Home truths

Modern houses are suffused with harmful chemicals. One of them is lead, present in paints. It is banned in several countries but not in India. The Centre for Science and Environment tested popular paints in India for lead content. It found 72 per cent of the samples had lead much higher than the voluntary limit specified by the Bureau of Indian Standards. Only the Dulux brand of ICI was lead-free; Asian Paints cleaned up later.

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