1991 Health Damage Due to Bhopal Gas Disaster

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Health Damage due to BhopalGas DisasterReview of Medical Research

Rajiv Lochan

The findings of the various studies undertaken by the IndianCouncil of Medical Research in Bhopal are beginning to produce

medical evidence of the enormity of the Bhopal Gas Disaster.

CONSIDERING the enormity of the

health damage caused due to the Bhopal

disaster t he scientific inf orma tion avail-

able on the health status of the victims of

the disaster is far from adequate. Lack of

scientific information has led to an

underestimation of the damage caused by

Union Carbide Corporation. It has also

impeded the emergence of a proper line

of medical treatment for the gas victims.

Most of the large-scale attempts to

generate information have been carried

out through studies conducted by the

Indian Council of Medical Research

(ICMR). It is indeed unfortunate that even

this information and the implications they

carry have not been made available out-

side a limited circle. This note is primarily

an attempt towards dissemination of the

information generated by ICMR.

After the gas disaster the ICMR initia-

ted studies on the effect of the gases that

leaked on the night of December 2/3 1984from the Union Carbide pesticide factory.

In all, ICMR look up 27 projects that were

directed mainly towards the study of the

effects of the gases on the respiratory,

reproductive, gastro-intestinal, occular

systems of the affected people. A few

studies were carried out on the impact of

the gases on children of various age

groups. The sample populations for the

studies were taken from among the gas-

exposed people and for comparison a

sample population from the non-gas ex-

posed areas (control area) were made part

of the study. The data for the studies werecollected both from hospital and through

visits to the community. The ICMR has

established a special centre for carrying

out the studies known as the Bhopal Gas

Disaster Reseach Centre (BGDRC) which

has carried out the only extensive medical

studies in the aftermath of the Bhopal

disaster. The findings of the ongoing

studies are reported in the annual reports

published by the centre which are the data

sources for this article. In places findings

of sample studies have been projected to

cover the estimated gas-affected popula-tion s o as to ar rive at an overall assess-

ment. Along with the estimation of health

damage caused by the Bhopal disaster we

also consider the health care costs that

would need to be borne to deal with the

large-scale and serious damage. It is

understood that such health care will have,

to be provided to the gas-affected popula-

tion at least for the next 20 years. Given

that the suit for damage pressed by the

Indian government on behalf of the gas

victims against Union Carbide is yet to be

decided, all medical findings and analysis

based thereon have legal implications.1

Though a number of studies have been

carried out on ly thos e studies are con-

sidered here in which the health effects in

the study area are found to be significant-

ly higher than those found in the control

area. Health effects of the toxic gases and

the costs of health care for individual

health problems have been discussed with

reference to these chosen studies.

Acco rdin g to the 'Long-Term

Epidemiological Study on the Health

Effects of Toxic Gas Exposure' (principalinvestigator, M P Dwivedi, director,

Bhopal Gas Disaster Research Centre) the

total estimated exposed population in

1984 was 5,21,262. Of this population

32,477 were in severely exposed area,

71,917 in moderately exposed area and

4,16,869 in mildly exposed area. A popula-

tion of 80,021 (20.3 per cent) of the total

was covered by the ICMR study. The divi-

sion of the entire gas-affected area into

mild, moderate and severe areas has been

done on the basis of exposure-related

mortality rates in the immediate aftermath

of the disaster.According to this study the abortion

rate was 7.63 per cent in 1990 in the af-

fected area while in control area the rate

was 3 per cent. The abortion rate is

decreasing in the gas-affected area

gradually. It came down to 7.63 per cent

in 1990 from 8.22 per cent in 1989. At this

rate it will take about nine years to attain

the control area rate. During these nine

years 3,568 abortions would be due to gas

exposure. An e stimated Rs 1,000 is re-

quired for health care in the case of abor-

tion which means Rs 3.56 million will berequired for health care of the gas-affected

women who have undergone abortions.

The people who have gas exposure

symptoms at the end of six years are,obviously, 'permanently' rather than just'temporarily' injured. The symptomaticpopulation among all gas victims is 30.52per cent and is increasing year a fter yearas the injury has affected their bodysystems irreparably. In the control area the.symptomatic population is only 18.94 percent. This means that 60,632 additionalpeople are suffering from gas exposure

over and above the control area figures.For the care and cure of this general mor-

bidity at least Rs 10 per person would berequired. Although the number of peoplesuffering from general morbidity is in-creasing in the gas hit areas, for the sakeof simplicity if we take this number to bestationary then the money required onlyfor the medicare of this morbid popula-tion would be for Rs 1.45 billion (Table 1).

LUNG INVOLVEMENT

Various studies have established the

severity of effect on lungs due to exposure

to toxic gases in Bhopal. Accroding to this

study (principal investigator N P Mishra)

98.4 per cent of the gas-exposed popula-

tion was found to be having exertional

dyspnoea and it was found to be progres-

sive in some cases. Recurrent respiratory

infections (73.4 per cent), chest pain

(42 per cent) , joint pain s and easy

fatigueability are the other common

symptoms.

About 24 per cent of the gas-affected

popula tio n have Reactive Airway Dys-

function Syndrome (RADS) in which thepatient had paroxysmal attacks of breath-

lessness following toxic gas inhala tion . In

1322Economic and Political Weekly May 25, 1991



the control population such symptoms

were presented by 2 per cent of the

population. Research studies have shown

that RADS could persist for several years

after the injury. It is also likely that a

number of persons with RADS will turn

into cases of asthma and the disease

would become incurable. Symptomatic

treatment with regular use of 'bron-

chodilators is the only course of treatment

for such patients. It is safe to assume thatthere are at least 1,14,677 persons whose

symptoms can be related to inhalation of

toxic gases. Considering that treatment of

paroxysmal attacks will cost an estimated

Rs 1000 per person per year for the next

20 years the total cost of health care of

persons presenting RADS will be Rs 2.3

billion.

Detailed lung function tests reveal that

11.4 per cent of the gas victims have

Chronic Obstructive Airway Disease

(COAD) as against only 4 per cent in the

control population. The national averagefor this disease is only 1.7 to 2.2 per cent.

A significantly high number of victims

(even young non-smokers) have developed

COAD as a result of toxic injury to the

airways. That means 38,573 persons are

suffering with COAD above the control

area figures. COAD is a progressive and

deteriorating disease. For its medical treat-

ment at least Rs 1,000 will be required per

year per person tor the next 20 years on

average. That means Rs 77.1 million will

be required (Table 3).

The study of small airway function

among the gas-affected population reveal-

ed that almost all the patients (97.5 per

cent) had evidence of small airway

obstruction. In the course of the study

risk parameters were identified for positive

identification of small airway obstruction

and it was found that 60.7 per cent of the

affect ed popul ati on showed the involve-

ment of three or more parameters. In con-

trast, 74 per cent of the control cases had

either no involvement or only one

parame ter involvement. Such findings

have led the researchers to suggest that

small airway obstruction be taken as amarker for the diagnosis of toxic gas-

induced lung disease.

The costs of health care for the 5,08,230

(97.5 per cent) victims suffering from

small airway obstruction for the next 20years at the rate of Rs 1000 per year per

person amounts to Rs 10 billion.

OTHER HEALTH PROBLEMS

In the hous e-to- house survey under -

taken between September 1988 and

August 1989 by the ICMR, it was foundthat anxiety neurosis and neurotic depres-

sion were the most com mon psychiatric

problems among the gas-affected people

(principal investigator B B Sethi). The

study conducted in 1990 indicates that

48.13 in 1,000 persons in severely affected

and 47.77 in 1,000 persons in mildly af-

fected areas were suffering from these

mental illnesses as compared to 14.84 per

1,000 persons in the control area. By tak-

ing into account figures from previous

studies it is possible to conclude that while

the incidence of psychiatric illness remains

more or less stationary in the control area,

14-15 per t hou sand, it has been increas-

ing in the gas-affected area. While this

incidence was 40 per thousand in 1988 and

42 per thousand in 1989 it has gone upto

47 per thousand in 1990. Even without

taking into account this rise, the number

of persons who se mental he alth impair-

ment can be attributable to toxic gas

exposures is 1,72,590. Assuming treatment

costs for psychiatric illness to be Rs 1,000

per person per year the total cost of

mental health care for 20 years comes to

Rs 3.45 billion (Table 2).In one study (principal investigator

N R Bhandari) t he growth of children

bor n to gas-expos ed wome n was moni-

tored considering different parameters. It

has been found that the failure-to-grow

rate is significant after the age of 18

months (8.78 at the age of 30 months).

Children born to gas-exposed women also

exhibit a significanly higher delay in gross

motor (control of voluntary body move-

ments) and language sector development.

At the age of 36 months 4.83 per cent

children show delay in gross motor

development and 6.59 per cent show defi-

cient development in language sector. The

circumference of the head of both male

and female children was found to be

significantly higher in the affected area

than in the cotrol area. It was also found

that the chest circumference for female

children was significantly lower compared

to the control population.The birth rate in the affected area is

29.43 per 1000 population. That is, in the

next 20 years 3,06,800 children will be

born. With the above maintained failure

rates 12,180 more children will show delay

in growth; 6,656 children will show delay

in gross motor sector; 11,720 children will

show delay in language sec tor develop-

ment in the next 20 years in the affected

area over those in the control area. All

these children will require special atte n-

tion to aid growth. If Rs 1,000 per child

were to be assumed to be required for thespecial care of these children, then Rs

30.55 million will be required (Table 3).

It needs to be mentioned that the children

covered by this study were born much

after the gas-exposure to their mothers.

Abnormalities found among such

children, therefore, indicate systemic

damage caused by the toxic gases.

The health staus of children of age

group 6 to 15 years was studied (principal

investigator N R Bhandari) and was found

to be similar to that of the adult popula-

tion in terms of the nature of ailments.

55.96 per cent of the child population inthe affected area had breathlessness while

the corresponding data for the control

area was only 1.6 per cent. Cough was

reported by 61.23 per cent of the affected

children as compared to only 2.34 per cent

of children in control area. Chest pain was

repor ted by 1 per cent children in the con-

trol area while 17.4 per cent complained

of chest pain in the affected area. As many

as 6.65 per cent of affected children were

hospitalised between May 1989 and March

Economic and Political Weekly May 25, 19911323



1990 compared to 0.23 per cent of children

in the control area in the same period.

An estimated gas-affected population

of 5,00,000 will require some kind of

health care or other for the next 20 years.

The total cost of such health care

comes to $ 1.14 billion. It needs to be

mentioned that the total compesation

claimed by the Indian government is $ 3.3

billion and the compensation amount

calculated by the Citizens Commission on

Bhopal, a US-based coalition of 50 social

and environmental organisations, was 4.1

billion dollars. The health care costs

arrived at in the present note, therefore,

are quite in accordance with the foremen-

tioned amounts of total compensation.

Notes

1 We are aware that the computations of healthcare costs presented here also have legal im-plications and we hope that these compula-

tions can help the court in quantifying theliability of Union Carbide once such liabilityis established. It needs to be made clear,

however, that the amounts indicated here do

not purport to be the total compensation

payable by Union Carbide but address the

issue of health care costs alone and are thus

part of the amount for relief and restitution

payable by the offending party in a law suit.

However, these calculations do not include

health care costs that may need to be borne

for health effects that have not manifested

so far but are likely to emerge. For instance,

the study of chromosomal aberrations byICMR has indicated their presence among

the gas-affected population but has yet to

quantify such aberrations. The problem of

genetic diseases that may occur due to gas

exposure-related chromosomal aberrations

are also left out. Nor does it include in its

estimation the health care cost that has been

borne (both by the Indian government and

the gas victims) during the acute phase

between December 1984 and the year 1990.

Significantly excluded is also the cost of

medical surveillance which is an essential task

considering that very little is known about

the exact nature of the toxic gases and the

long-term damage caused by them. As will

be apparent, the medical care costs mentioned

in the paper are conservative estimates.Wastes Not WantedSatyaban Sarkar

The control of toxic wastes which are polluting our river waters

rapidly merits urgent and special attention.

AT a recent workshop in New Delhi,

representatives of WHO and the Central

Pollution C ontro l Board once again ex-pressed concern about the extent of river

water pollution in India. The Yamuna, for

instance, is highly polluted because of

the dump ing of industrial wastes from

60,000-70,000 small scale industrial units

operating in India's capital. In Bihar the

Son river has the highest fish mortality rate

amongst all rivers and its once thriving

carp fishery has been wiped out by

discharges from paper, chemical, cement

and sugar factories. The indiscriminate

dumping of lethal cyanide wastes in

Ezhilnagar canal from electroplating

operations has caused buffalo deaths in

Madras. The control of toxic wastes is a

small focus on t he large canvas of en-

vironmental pollution control measures,

but it merits special and urgent attention.

In the manufacture of some industrial

end-products, highly toxic by-products are

released and are difficult to neutralise.

There are also some chemicals which serve

useful purposes but have to be safely

disposed of once they have been so used.

The pesticide industry, manufacturing

synthetic organochlorine and organo-

phosphates, etc, is an example of this.Dioxin, for instance, is a by-product in the

manufacture of certain herbicides and ob-

tained during the bleaching of paper pulp.

Extremely small doses of dioxin can cause

horrible diseases. America's Environmen-tal Protection Agency sets its safety stan-

dards by assuming that any dioxin—even,

in theory, a single molecule—is bad for

you.

Disposal of seemingly innocent refuse

may give rise to toxic products. Every year

the average American opens 300 kg of

boxes, bags, and other packaging material,

then throws it all away, and after a while

that adds up to a new landfill, which again

is a haza rd in its own class. Plastic pro-

ducts are not biodegradable. At best, they

may only break up into smaller bits of

plastic which stay around and do not

decompose in the same way that plant,

animal products and pottery do. In bon-

fires, they give off toxic products—PVC

gives off hydrogen chloride, besides such

highly toxic and carcinogenic chemicals as

dioxins and dibenzofurans. Nylon, some

acrylics and polyuretharie foam not only

spread fire swiftly but also produce

hydrogen cyanide. Polyurethane foam at

below 600°C gives off a dense, choking

yellow smoke that contains isocyanates,

including toluene di-isocyanate, a very

potent allergen and irritant.Heavy pollution is being discovered in

US bases in Germany as the US prepares

to withdraw two-thirds of its troops from

Europe: contaminated airfields where jet

fuel has drained into undergroun d a quifer

and has migrated outside the military

complex, hazardous chemicals and poiso-

nous metals in landfills, toxic chemicals

in water tables from dry-cleaning plants.

Governments of the industrial North are

increasingly seeking to ship this waste to

poorer nations and paying them to deal

with it. In their own countries, theestimated costs of cleaning up the waste

disposal sites are enormous—$20 to 100

billion in the US, $10 billion in FRG, and

in the non-nuclear, tiny, clean Netherlands

$1.5 billion, Future Earth, published by

Christopher Helm, London, 1988, p 103.

Shipment of toxic wastes for disposal/

destruct ion within gov ernmenta l guide-

lines is big business. The case of poly-

chlorinated biphenyls or PCBs in UK has

gone into the political arena, with trade

unions stepping up the campaign against

import of dangerous wastes withoutadeq uate saf eguard regulatio n and forc-

ing disposal contractors into refining their

incineration techniques to avoid the

generation of dioxins. Incidentally, little

is known about how we dispose of our

PCB oil or PCB-c onta mina ted material

like disused transformer castings.

A mere transfer of location of the waste

often does not mean environmentally safe

disposal of the waste. Take the case of

emissions from coal-fired power stations.

In UK, plans to scrub out the impurities

that go up the chimney and to dischargethe mercury and the chloride into rivers

will merely add to the river pollution, and

objection has been raised by the UK

National Rivers Authority. Nuclear or

radio-active waste is a class apart—it will

stay around till time can take care of it.

Nor can metallic poisons (copper, mercury,

etc) be made benign.

Organic wastes can however be rendered

non-toxic. One of the most effective treat-

ments for toxic organic waste is to burn

it at around 13000C at which point the

chemical compounds break down into

their constitu ents and (in theory) non-

toxic parts. The caveat is that the in-

cinerators have to be run super efficient-

ly, otherwise, the toxics will survive the

burners, escape into the air and end up

in human lungs or intestines, via food-

chain, etc.

Bronze age metalworkers phased out

arsenic alloys in favour of inferior tin

alloys because of the health hazard involv-

ed. They knew what was bad for them and

acted accordingly. Shall we be so lucky

especially in countries like ours where ap-

propriate technology may generateresearch papers and conferences but not

the technology?

1324

22 Economic and Political Weekly May 25, 1991

Documents

1991 Health Damage Due to Bhopal Gas Disaster