This page is intended to contain a complete set of documents referenced in the text of the Bhopal Marathon report. This is work in progress and will take some time to complete.

Where excerpts have been published in the report, here we will give the full document (including multi-page documents) so that you have the excerpt in context. In some cases, where the originals are not available, we provide accurate uncorrected transcripts complete with their original grammatical and typographical errors.

Many of these documents were obtained under discovery in court proceedings in the United States. Some have never been published before. The documents are organised to correspond to page numbers in the Bhopal Marathon report.

WORK IN PROGRESS. If you need a document mentioned below that has not yet been linked, please contact us with identifying information.

1 & 5 THE BHOPAL MARATHON

Note 1. Indian Ministry of Law note to Prime Minister’s Office, Feb 2, 2008

Note 2. Lord Coe appearance before House of Commons Culture Media & Sport Committee, Nov 15 2011

Note 3.  Supreme Court of India, Union Carbide Corporation and others vs Union of India and others, Oct 3, 1991

Note 4.  Andrew Liveris interview with Bloomberg, Feb 28, 2012

 

12-19 AFTER THE GAS

Newspaper cuttings and photographs from Sambhavna Document Library Collection

Page 14. True Death Toll Testimony of municipal worker Mohammed Karim as given to BMA Trustee Tim Edwards, April 2001

Page 16. Enter Justice in Alligator Boots, by Trevor Fishlock, first published in The Times, London, Dec 11, 1984

 

20 THE VOYAGE OF WARREN ANDERSON

Note 1.   Warren’s Anderson’s possible escape by rowing boat from the eyewitness account of journalist Anjali Deshpande, also quoted in her 2012 novel Impeachment, p.97.

‘She, along with scores of reporters and photographers, had stood guard for half a day at the front gate of the Carbide Guest House, while the chairman had been in custody inside. She could not forget the anger in the press, the way one of the local reporters had dared the armed guards at the gate and rushed inside the guest house with some of them in tow and how they had been politely asked to wait outside for the chairman to make a statement.
        They had waited and waited, typewriters perched on the low boundary wall of the building, notebooks in hand, hungry and thirsty but not daring to move away, trying unsuccessfully to hound the cars that brought in US embassy officials, till agencies flashed the news that he had left Bhopal. Even the fact that he had been smuggled out of the unused rusty back gate, taken off its hinges after the padlock hung on the thick iron chain refused to cooperate with officials desperate to let the man in their custody escape, rowed across the lake in a boat and taken to the airport to be flown to Delhi by the same Chief Minister who had paraded his courage before them only hours ago, and from there to the US, had not dimmed her pride. She had seen it as only a legal right he had to bail and had no doubts he would be facing trial soon.’

p. 97, Impeachment, by Anjali Deshpande, Hachette (India) 2012  Paperback – Kindle Edition

22-27 LIE & LET DIE
All news cuttings and contemporary photographs from Sambhavna Trust Document Library
1. Phosgene Unit & Methyl Isocyanate Unit Safety Considerations Report ucil w.o. 930-4533/4534,
Engineering Dept, Chemicals & Plastics, Union Carbide Corporation Technical Center, South Charleston, West Virginia, USA, ucc e.o 938-6795, by J. F. Dodd, G.E. Rutson et al, Dec 16, 1974
2. Jackson Browning, quoted in Clouds of Injustice: Bhopal Disaster 20 Years On , p.50, Amnesty
International, AI index-ASA 20/015/2004
3. Telex of UCC Medical Director Dr Bipin Avashia, cited by Dr N.R. Bhandari, Medical Superintendant, Hamidia Hospital, Bhopal, in The Cloud Over Bhopal, Anil Agarwal, New Scientist, Nov 28 1985
4. Statements of Dr. Hans Weill and Dr. G. Peter Halberg, Encouraging Prognosis Is Seen For Gas Victims, William K. Stevens, New York Times, Dec 15 1984
5. Bhopal Collector Moti Singh’s visit to the UCIL plant described by Additional District Magistrate H.L. Prajapati in The Gas Tragedy: An Eye Witness, pp25-27 and p. 31, Mittal Publications, New Delhi, 2003
6. UCIL Chief Medical Officer Dr L.S. Loya quoted in Paying For Bhopal, Russell Mokhiber, Multinational Monitor, Vol VI, No 10, July 31 1985
7. International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, The Report of the ICFTU-ICEF Mission to Study the Causes and Effects of the Methyl Isocyanate Gas Leak at Union Carbide Pesticide Plant in Bhopal, India on
December 2-3, 1984. May 1985
8. ‘Do to do and La dee da’, Dr L.S.Loya quoted in The Culture of Make Believe, p. 286, Derrick Jensen, Chelsea Green Publishing, Jan 1, 1990
9. ‘The State Health Director finally received solid information on the chemical (MIC) from the World Health Organisation several days after the accident’, Report of the ICFTU, p.11, May 1985
10. Bhopal Chief Pathologist Dr Heeresh Chandra, Financial Times, Dec 8 1984
11. Dr Ingrid Eckerman, The Bhopal Saga p.53-55, Universities Press (India) Pvt Ltd/Orient Longman, Hyderabad, India, Dec 2004
12. Dr John Bucher, US National Institute of Environmental Health Science, quoted in Health & Safety at Work, p.7, Aug 1986
13. Dr N.R. Bhandari, 25 Years of Bhopal Gas Tragedy: Inside Story and Untold Truths, Lalwani Publications, Bhopal, 2010
14. Quoted in Tara Jones, Corporate Killing, p.26, Free Association Books, London, 1998
15. Chemical and Engineering News, Feb 11, 1985, p. 37
16. ‘Minutes of the Chemical Manufactuers’ Assoc. Executive Committee Meeting,’ January 28, 1985
17. Health Effects of the Toxic Gas Leak from Union Carbide Methyl Isocyanate Plant in Bhopal: Technical Report on Pathology and Toxicology 1984-1992, Bhopal Gas Disaster Research Centre, Medico Legal Institute, Mahatma Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal & Institute of Pathology (Indian Councul of Medical Research) New Delhi, 2010
18. Telex from Union Carbide USA, Dec 5, 1984, reproduced in The Bhopal Tragedy, One Year After, an Appen Report, Shabat Alam, Malaysia, 1985 p.110
19. Environmental Pollution and Bhopal Killings by Bhojendra Nath Banerjee, p. 121, South Asia Books, 1987
20. Minutes of a Meeting Between Medical College Doctors and Dr Max Daunderer on 8 December 1984 reproduced in Appen p.111
21. ‘The toxicological studies carried out so far… have clearly shown that, at least in the survivors, there is evidence of chronic cyanide poisoning operating as a result of either inhalation of hydrocyanic acid or more probably subsequent generation of cyanide radical from the cyanogen pool in gas-affected victims. The changes in urinary thiocyanate and in blood gas before and after thiosulphate treatment substantiated the above findings.’ Observations of the ICMR, February 1985, quoted in Tara Jones, Corporate Killing, p.114
22. The Cloud Over Bhopal, Anil Agarwal, New Scientist, Nov 28 198524. New Scientist, p. 41
23, 24. Agarwal, Anil, and Sunita Narain. The State of India’s Environment 1984-85: The Second
Citizens’ Report. New Delhi: Centre for Science and Environment, 1985, p.219. ‘Union Carbide’s own pronouncements from the US added to the chaos. Carbide’s medical director in the US, Bipin Avashia, cabled the authorities in Bhopal to administer sodium thiosulphate to the victims “if cyanide poisoning is suspected”. But at his press conference in Bhopal 10 days after the disaster, Avashia got into a slanging match with Bhopal’s doctors crying out: “It is not phosgene, it is not phosgene, it is not phosgene”. He argued that there could be no cyanide poisoning and sodium thiosulphate was no antidote to MIC poisoning. Union Carbide even issued a statement: “MIC is not a cyanide. In no way should it be confused as such. MIC naturally degrades in the environment by reacting readily with water to become harmless substances while cyanides do not react with water.” But when quizzed how he could have suggested administration of sodium thiosulphate in his first cable, he simply said that he could not be expected to know what sort of gas the Bhopal plant stocked. However, the telexed prescription had clearly referred to ‘treatment of MIC pulmonary complications.’
25. Asbestos Information Association, minutes of meeting held on Dec 9 1976 at the Mayflower Hotel, Washington DC
26. Statements of Dr. Hans Weill and Dr. G. Peter Halberg, Encouraging Prognosis Is Seen For Gas Victims, William K. Stevens, New York Times, Dec 15 1984
27. Quoted in Asbestos: Medical and Legal Aspects, Barry I. Castleman, p.570, Aspen Publishers, 2005
28. New Yorker June 10, 1985, Annals of Law: The Asbestos Industry on Trial pp49-101, especially p.89
29. Agarwal, Anil, and Sunita Narain. The State of India’s Environment 1984-85: The Second Citizens’ Report. New Delhi: Centre for Science and Environment, 1985. ‘Pointing out that if UCC had been honest about cyanide poisoning, hundreds of lives may have been saved, an angry article in Business India concluded: ‘The impression is inescapable that there were concerted efforts by the senior-most members of Bhopal’s medical establishment to suppress information on the nature of this mass poisoning.’
Said Tania Midha in another report in The Telegraph, ‘Interestingly, most documents produced by Dr Mishra in refuting the validity of Dr Heeresh Chandra’s claims, are studies by Bryan Ballantyne, the expert sponsored by Union Carbide to visit Bhopal.’
30. Bhopal: Disaster Seeking An Antidote, Ian Jack, Sunday Times, Dec 1, 1985
31. Unfolding the Betrayal of Bhopal Gas Tragedy, pp.216-220 Moti Singh, B.R. Publishing Corporation, 2008
32. Copy of confidential letter by B.B.L. Mathur, Dean of Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal, reproduced in Appen, p.121.
33. ICMR interim results May 1985. ‘ICMR instructed the state government to use sodium thiosulphate because patients given the injection reported remarkable improvement, and tests showed 8-10 times increased quantities of thiocyanate in the urine, which indicated that the body was getting rid of the poison. In early May, ICMR announced that biochemical tests had confirmed that MIC had affected the haemoglobin in the blood through a ‘carbamylation’ process, reducing its ability to carry carbon dioxide away from the tissues. Thus, even though the blood was rich in oxygen, tissues were starving for it.’
34. Agarwal, Anil, and Sunita Narain. The State of India’s Environment 1984-85: The Second Citizens’ Report. New Delhi: Centre for Science and Environment, 1985. p.220 ‘Heeresh Chandra argued that death was due to or similar to cyanide poisoning and pushed for the immediate use of sodium thiosulphate — the known antidote — as patients were still dying. A large number of deaths occurred within the first 48-72 hours. But for inexplicable reasons, he only met with ridicule from his own colleagues who demanded more
evidence. Said N P Mishra: “You are a doctor of the dead, so do not interfere with the living.”’

pp. 60-67 – UNION CARBIDE’S SECRET DISASTER: THE SECOND POISONING OF BHOPAL

Note 4 – http://bhopalmarathon.org/private-union-carbide-memo – Confidential Union Carbide memo revealing that tests of soil and water from various locations within the factory site had caused ‘instant 100% mortality’ in fish and were lethally poisoned with naphthol and naphthalene, among other things. Some of the test locations were adjacent to the boundary wall, yards from houses and wells of Atal-Ayub Nagar, whose wells would shortly become unstable and finally massively polluted. The contents of this memo were kept quiet and despite the clear danger to local water supplies Union Carbide publicly denied there was a problem. See Letter from Bose to Babulal Gaur, cited below.

Note 5 – http://bhopalmarathon.org/ucc-01823 – NEERI interim report: Assessment of pollution damage due to Solar Evaporation Ponds at UCIL, September 1989, cited in letter, David Langseth, Arthur D Little, to Norman Gaines, UCC, November 10, 1989, UCC 01823

Note 6 – Citizens Environmental Laboratory, Boston, report on samples of sediments sent by the BGIA (Bhopal Group for Information & Action)

Note 7 – http://bhopalmarathon.org/letter-of-may-16-1990-from-subimal-bose-to-babu-lal-gaur – Letter of May 16, 1990, from Union Carbide India Limited Manager Subimal Bose to Babu Lal Gaur, Madhya Pradesh State Minister for Gas Relief  & Rehabilitation, accusing the BGIA and community leaders of ‘unneccessary agitation’ and referring to NEERI’s puzzling and flawed interim report. (See Note 8)

Note 8 – Business Confidential,  UCC 02049-50 – Norman B. Gaines, Head of UCC’s Health Safety and Environmental Affairs Dept, to CC Smith Jr, May 22nd 1990 about the allegations of environmental contamination around the Bhopal Plant site, and proposing a strategy for dealing with the problems caused by the water poisoning story. Cites the NEERI report (which dealt only with the Solar Evaporation Ponds) as ‘implicitly’ clearing the plant site, thus acknowledging that the natural underground flow was from the factory. However, he must already have known of the test results (see Note 4 above) which proved how badly the factory site was contaminated.

Note 10 – Letter, UCC 01810-01818 – Norm Gaines, UCC Health, Safety and Environmental Affairs, Site Rehabilitation Project – Meeting 30 October in Danbury, to M.D. Buckingham et al, Nov 9, 1989. UCC 01810-01818

The squatters’ wells – Letter from Subimal Bose to Norm Gaines, dated March 30, 1992, in which he drops the bombshell that the people of Atal-Ayub Nagar outside the wall (whom he contemptuously refers to as ‘squatters’) are drinking from wells that are now ‘unstable’. Meaning poisoned.

Notes 13, 14 – The Hattiangadi Memorandum – UCC 04516 – US Engineers at South Charleston, express misgivings about Solar Evaporation Ponds. Record Memorandum, GR Hattiangadi, Sevin Project, UCIL, Disposal of By-product HCl, May 7, 1972. UCC 04516 14. ibid.

Note 15 – Minutes of meeting No. 172 – UCC 04922-24 – T.S. Shah, Humphreys and Glasgow Consultants Private Limited, Bombay, Minutes of meeting held between UCIL, M/s. K Datye and H&GC on 19-1-77 in H &GC Offices. 20th January 1977.

Note 16 (1 & 2) - Telexes UCC 01736 & 01737 – William Correa, Bombay, to H. Ayers, UCE Hong Kong, March 25, 1982 and April 10, 1982.

pp. 86-87 – FROM COCK-UP TO COVER-UP: THE FARCE THAT WAS AND IS NEERI

Numbers here identify Union Carbide and Arthur D Little documents obtained via discovery in a US court.

Note 1 – UCC 02271

Notes 2, 3 – Assessment of pollution damage due to Solar Evaporation Ponds at Union Carbide factory, Bhopal, NEERI report, 1990. The NEERI report shows that it left as many as nine peaks unidentified in a [chromatography] of soil and water samples, NEERI 1990, pp.73-4.

Note 4 – UCC 02268

Note 5 – Norm Gaines, UCC 02050

Note 6 – UCC 02400 and 02401. (Full Carbide discussion:UCC 02398 / 02399 / 02400 / 02401 and 02402.)

Note 7 – Madhya Pradesh Public Health Engineering Department’s State Research Laboratory tested water from 11 community tubewells, finding large amounts of chemicals dissolved in the water. ‘It is established that this pollution is due to chemicals used in the Union Carbide factory that have proven to be extremely harmful for health. Therefore the use of this water for drinking must be stopped immediately.’ Confidential report of the Chief Chemist, State Research Laboratory, Madhya Pradesh Public Health Engineering Department, Nov 26, 1996

Note 8 –  UCC 01099

Note 9 –  Assessment of Contaminated Areas Due to Past Waste Disposal Practices at EIIL, NEERI report1997

Note 10 – UCC 01100 / 01101

Notes 11, 12 – Arthur D. Little critique of NEERI draft report, ucc 03043, p.13

Note 13 – UCC 03042- 03043

Note 14 – NEERI report 1997.

Note 15 – Krohley Declaration, Para 6, Ex. A