Bhopal: Toxic wastes and chemicals accumulated in the site of the now defunct Union Carbide plant are causing congenital defects among children born to those exposed to the Bhopal gas disaster even after three decades, a new study says.
The summary of the yet to be published finding of the study was released on December 2, the eve of the 31 anniversary of the Bhopal gas disaster. The study involved some 100,000 persons from among 20,000 families living in the surroundings of the tragedy hit Union Carbide Plant in Bhopal, capital of the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.
It says, “Compared to unexposed parents far too many children are being born with congenital malformations to parents with acute exposure to toxic gas or chronic exposure to contaminated water.”
The study divided them into four different kinds of exposure history –exposed to gas in 1984, exposed to contaminated water, exposed to both gas and subsequently water and unexposed.
The researchers have also collected information on diagnosed cases of TB, Cancers, Paralysis, reproductive health of women, physical growth, mental and social development of infants and children and birth defects.
The Sambhavna Trust Clinic is doing this huge research to locate the problems the survivors are facing.
According to the finding, “the research workers have identified over 2,500 children with possible birth defects in the study population. Out of these over 1,700 were diagnosed with congenital anomaly by 30 doctors from different parts of the country.”
The final analysis of the date is underway, said Ritesh Pal, field coordinator of the study.
However, he quoted the preliminary findings to suggest that compared to an unexposed population, the incidence of congenital anomalies was much higher in the populations exposed to toxic gas and contaminated ground water.
According to Afreen, another researcher, their team had not only identified the children with birth defects but also helped them get corrective treatment.
“So far 164 children with mental retardation, cerebral palsy, , polydactyly, syndactyly, torticollis and other congenital anomalies have been referred to government and non-government health care centers for medical and surgical treatment,” she notes.
The finding of the study is expected to be published in within six months, says the one of the office-bearers of Sambhavna Trust Clinic. According to him, the Clinic, in fact, wanted the study report to be released on the 31st anniversary but could not do so on account of certain delays.
More than 5,000 people died immediately and another around 575,000 persons suffered various injuries and aliments after 40 tons of mythyl isocyanate (MIC) leaked from the Union Carbide Plant in the outskirts of Bhopal in the night of December 2-3, 1984.
According to activists working among the survivors, more than 25,000 others died in subsequent years marking it as the world’s biggest industrial disaster. Even today people continue to die on account of the pollution spread in the soil, ground water and other chemicals laying in and around the tragedy site.