ICMR to Study Soil, Water around Bhopal Disaster Site
Bhopal — The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Wednesday said it would conduct studies to check soil and water contamination around the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal – the ground zero of the tragic 1984 methyl isocyanate (MIC) leak that killed thousands.
“The toxicity has vanished but we cannot be sure that contamination is over. So we have decided to carry out studies to investigate whether soil and water at the areas in Bhopal still have traces of poisonous gas,” DG ICMR, VM Katoch, was quoted as saying in New Delhi.
The announcement came a day after the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said it has detected unacceptably high levels of pesticide residues in groundwater samples collected from the vicinity of the plant.
The ICMR has, reportedly, invited research proposals to study the long-term effects of MIC, if any, on people residing around the now defunct complex.
On December 3, 1984, an MIC leak from the Union Carbide pesticide plant killed thousands and exposed lakhs of people to the after effects of the poisonous gas.
Tonnes of toxic waste still lies abandoned at the site.
(Based on Media Reports)
