BHOPAL SELECTA

Warren Anderson, ex-CEO of Union Carbide - the company responsible for the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster (see SchNEWS 238) - may be extradited to India to face charges for ‘culpable homicide’.

India’s Central Bureau of Investigation were allowed to press for his extradition from the US by a Delhi Court last Wednesday (23rd). Anderson skipped bail in Bhopal in 1992, having been arrested days after the gas leak which killed up to 15,000 people and maimed thousands more in horrific circumstances. Now 90, Anderson has never faced charges for his role in the tragedy.

Union Carbide knew its plant was based on untested technologies and didn’t take any remedial steps even when they knew of the defects. The company, now owned by Dow Chemical, also failed to clean up the still-toxic area nor provide compensation to the thousands of people still suffering with the disaster’s terrible legacy.