Cyanides Bhopal disaster

By their very nature disasters involving chemicals pose special problems because they involve a large number of people in a state of panic. Most places are not equipped to deal with such a situation especially if there is confusion about the nature of the chemical. If the chemical is a pulmonary irritant, as is the case with MIC, there is a good likelihood of cyanide poisoning as happened in Bhopal and for a short period in Japan when miscreants exploded organophosphates in the subway. The other reason for mass confusion is the erroneous belief that there exist antidotes for every poison. 

Whether or not hydrogen cyanide (HCN) was the cause of death following the disaster in Bhopal and whether or not people should be treated with sodium thiosulfate (NTS) became a controversial issue, involving the medical profession, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR),... 

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