8ABhopal+Question+3

A mixture of poisonous gases flooded the city of Bhopal, causing great panic as people woke up with a burning sensation in their lungs. Thousands died immediately from the effects of the gas and many were trampled in the panic. This poisonous gas caused death and left the survivors with lingering disability and diseases. Not much is known about the future medical damage of MIC (Methyl Isocyanate), but according to an international medical commission, the victims suffer from serious health pr oblems that are being misdiagnosed or ignored by local doctors. Within 72 hours of the toxic leak, 8000 to 10000 people had died. Thousands of people were killed (estimates ranging as high as 4,000) in their sleep or as they fled in terror, and hundreds of thousands remain injured or affected (estimates range as high as 400,000) to this day. People didn’t get any medical help from anywhere, just some basic tablets doctors [used for pain relief]. Local hospitals were completely overwhelmed and doctors complained they were helpless. Bhopal and its aftermath were a warning that the path to industrialization, for developing countries in general and India in particular, is fraught with human, environmental and economic perils. "Mini-Bhopal", smaller industrial accidents that occur with disturbing frequency in chemical plants in both developed and developing countries, and "slow-motion Bhopal", unseen chronic poisoning from industrial pollution that causes irreversible pain, suffering, and death. Today, over 120,000 are still suffering from cancer, blindness, serious birth defects, breathing dificulties and other health complications caused by the accident. After slash-and-burn farming, wher land is deforested, and then abandoned after its nutrients have been depleted and it can no longer produce. Medical staff was unprepared for the thousands of casualties. Doctors and hospitals were not informed of proper treatment methods for MIC gas inhalation. They were told simply give cough medicine and eye drops to their patients, nobody knows what to do with their panic. To the sick people, some of them died and some sicked. __//By Ngan and Fatima//__
 * [[image:http://www.highlandercenter.org/images/bhopal4.jpg width="170" height="197" align="right"]]Q.3 Describe the impact had on the environment and people. **