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Bayer Shouldn't Be Making and Storing the Same Toxic Chemical That Killed Thousands in Bhopal. Why Is That Even a Question?

Analysis

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
by Meg White

It's kind of like asking whether or not one should sell a convicted arsonist a stockpile of a certain type of industrial flame thrower that is notorious for misfiring.

Four lawmakers sent a letter to U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board President John Bresland requesting an investigation into Bayer's continued use of the highly hazardous chemical methyl isocyanate (MIC, also sometimes abbreviated as MIS) in light of last year's deadly explosion at a West Virginia chemical facility.

Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Henry Waxman (D-CA), Chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Bart Stupak (D-MI) and Chairman of the House Energy and Environment Subcommittee Ed Markey (D-MA) questioned Bayer's need to produce a chemical that was at the heart of what Greenpeace calls the "world's worst industrial disaster."

The Bhopal disaster claimed upwards of 20,000 lives and caused countless injuries and untold disfigurement when a leak of MIC emanated from a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India in 1984. The Congressional letter to Bresland notes that another major chemical company, DuPont, phased out MIC use after the disaster, but Bayer did not.

The circumstances of the Bayer explosion suggest the incident easily could have become another Bhopal. Bayer's West Virginia facility is the only chemical plant in the nation that uses and stores such quantities of MIC, a chemical used to make pesticides and fertilizers. The August 2008 explosion killed two employees and endangered the surrounding community, as the highly flammable and combustible MIC was dangerously close to the detonation.

The tank that exploded that night was propelled 50 feet into the air, smashing pipes and equipment along the way. The Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board preliminary report noted that the tank could have been propelled in any direction, and that the 37,000-pound capacity tank of MIC was only 80 feet away. Some debris from the accident landed close to the MIC storage tank. Had the MIC tank been impacted, the result could have easily been much worse than the devastating Bhopal disaster, ripple effects of which persist to this day.

Bayer is the last company to deal in such huge quantities of MIC. It is a fair question to ask why a company would need to use and store such a dangerous chemical, one that is known to cause death and destruction after fairly minimal exposure. The fact that these lawmakers have taken it upon themselves to inquire about it is certainly a positive thing.

Countless people put their lives in Bayer's hands, taking vitamins, medications and -- of course -- aspirin made by their healthcare division. But trust in Bayer CropScience, which Congress only now seems to be just barely questioning, is worth a closer look.

When one reads about the routine dereliction of duty and rejection of safety precautions that occurred at the West Virginia plant, the more important question becomes whether or not Bayer should still be allowed to manufacture and store chemicals in this country.

Bresland told Congress that there were "significant lapses in process safety management that likely contributed to causing this accident." He noted that employees were overworked and improperly trained, and due to inadequate equipment, safety procedures were routinely disregarded.

"What else could have happened in this accident?" Bresland asked during his testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Bayer's bad behavior didn't end there, however. In the wake of the explosion, Bayer destroyed evidence of its misdeeds and launched a media campaign designed to "marginalize" citizens and journalists who expressed concern about MIC.

Bresland also told local media outlets that Bayer had been uncooperative with his board's investigation, a full report of which is expected by year's end. The company is reportedly using an obscure post-9/11 security law to shield thousands of documents from the board's view.

Perhaps most troubling was Bayer's initial refusal to even tell emergency responders what exactly was going on. If there had been a release of MIC along the lines of Bhopal, could West Virginia have trusted Bayer to have been more forthcoming with information?

I say we don't put ourselves in that position. And I'm not alone.

One local opinion editor wrote that even though West Virginia is in need of jobs, Bayer should no longer operate its business as usual there:

It is both astonishing and disturbing that a company with such low ethical and safety standards is allowed to continue to manufacture and store chemicals potent enough to kill untold numbers of residents in Kanawha County.

The entire process proves that the company and its decrepit facility should no longer be allowed to operate in the heart of West Virginia's most populous urban environment.

West Virginians have been plagued by incidents similar to the August explosion for many years. Maya Nye, spokesperson for the local group People Concerned About MIC, told Bresland's board this story of an explosion that occurred in 1993, when she was just 16:

I felt and heard a loud boom. I thought a tree limb must have fallen on our house until the fire truck went backwards down my one-way street announcing that a shelter-in-place was in effect and to close all doors, windows and turn off all air conditioners until further notice. Panicked, I called my father, a Union Carbide employee, to ask him if he knew what happened and what to do. With no information, he told me to hang tight. It wasn't until after I hung up the phone that the smell invaded my house. I called my father again, only this time I couldn't get through. The phone lines were jammed as too many people were looking for information at the same time. Frantically I grabbed some duct tape and started taping up the cracks around the door and the windows as they had taught us to do in school after the Bhopal disaster. It didn't much work. Too many windows, too little time. The smell had already pervaded my house. So with a wet wash rag to my face, I sat with my dog, crying, hoping that my last phone call to my father wouldn't really be the last.

Nye was not overreacting, even at the traditionally melodramatic age of 16. The Environmental Protection Agency calls MIC "extremely toxic." Documented causes of death and injury related to MIC exposure range from "respiratory tract irritation, difficulty breathing, blindness, nausea, gastritis, sweating, fever, chills, and liver and kidney damage" to lung and eye damage to long term effects on fertility.

Despite its attempt at strong language, the congressional letter to Bresland simply asks him and his board to see whether Bayer could feasibly reduce or phase out MIC. Clearly, if DuPont did it more than 20 years ago, so can Bayer. The board and Congress should examine whether the sheer ineptitude, corruption and deception emanating from Bayer's CropScience division should bar the company from producing agricultural products at all.

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS

For more information about the Bhopal disaster and ongoing fallout, see The International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal.