Two Vignettes

During the night of December 2-3,1984, the worst industrial disaster in history occurred at Union Carbide s plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. Methyl isocyanate (MIC) liquid, an intermediate used in making Sevin, Union Carbide s name for the pesticide carbaryl, came into contact with water, boiled violently, and turned into MIC gas. Unchecked by various safety systems, tons of highly toxic MIC gas escaped from storage tank E610. A cloud of MIC gas descended upon shantytowns just outside the plant, as well as on Bhopal city. Estimates of the death toll from exposure to the gas, immediately or in the first 2 weeks, range from 2000 to 8000 or more. If those who died months or years later from MIC exposure are counted, the death toll rises to between 20,000 and 30,000. More than 500,000 people suffered injuries from exposure to the gas and its effects on the environment.  

The Ethically Responsible Engineer Concepts and Cases for Students and Professionals, First Edition. Robert McGinn. 2015 The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Published 2015 by John Wiley Sons, Inc. 

In February 1992, I attended a conference on professional ethics at the University of Florida, Gainesville. On the shuttle bus to the conference hotel, the only other passenger turned out to be a chemical engineer. I asked him whether there was any consensus in the chemical engineering community about what had caused the Bhopal disaster. His response was immediate and succinct sabotage. Union Carbide has given the same explanation for almost three decades and continues to do so on its website.  

About 14 months after the Bhopal disaster, on January 28, 1986, the US space shuttle Challenger exploded and disintegrated 73 seconds after launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The entire crew perished six astronauts and Christa McAuliffe, the first Teacher in Space. 

---