Most people will probably not care about this but I watched a documentry on BBC3 last night detailing this tragedy. American company Union Carbide risks the lives of many for cut backs in health and saftey to lower costs.

When the chief executive Warren Anderson was arrested the US government intervened and he now lives the life of luxury.

"Nearly 3,000 people died from the effects of the poisonous gas in the days following the disaster"

"Campaigners say nearly 20,000 others have since died from the effects of the leak."

"More than 100,000 people are ill, including babies still being born to victims today"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4010511.stm

I can't believe I missed this topic when I could just respone with a one-liner.

That is Capitalism for you.

It was twenty years ago last week. Horrible horrible. The report I saw about had the death much higher, I am fairly certain of that.

The saddest thing is that things like this doesnt change much.

Definitely a low point in global capitalism. Dow (which bought Union Carbide) is still facing legal action for this, as much as they've tried to distance themselves. There's currently a bill (http://www.bhopal.net/article.php?pid=153) in front of the US house of representatives "calling for Congress to recognise the 20th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster and express commitment to work with the Government of India and others to ensure that Union Carbide provides environmental and medical rehabilitation of the affected area and is held responsible for its actions." Maybe some kind of justice will eventually be done.

It's interesting to see how the battle over bhopal has taken taken place over the web:

bhopal.com (http://www.bhopal.com) is a Union Carbide sight, which basically outlines the legal points they will take.

bhopal.net (http://www.bhopal.net/index.php), bhopal.org (http://www.bhopal.org), and bhopal.fm (http://www.bhopal.fm), however, are activist sites. (A rebutal of the Union Carbide claims is here. (http://www.bhopal.net/oldsite/rebuttal.html)