Bhopal

Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster, which remains one of the saddest episodes in the sorry history of environmental health. Jordan at Confined Space covers the event very well, and what he’s written is well worth reading. There is little I could add other than to say it is a shame that Bhopal apparently wasn’t able to generate a groundswell of changed thinking in environmental protection, compared with the environmental health crises of previous years – think about DDT and Silent Spring, the Santa Barbara oil spill, the thalidomide disaster, and even Times Beach and Love Canal, all of which enacted major changes in environmental health thinking. PSM, RMP, TRI and the Chemical Hazards and Safety Board, even when they had teeth, just don’t resonate historically the same way as the National Environmental Policy Act or the formation of the EPA.

The political and public affairs blogs haven’t seemed to cover this issue, either.