Ohh. Bhopal.
Union Carbide.
$500 a victim.
Let's begin.

It wasn't just "an accident" on Dec 2, 1984. It was essentially a massacre by negligence, followed by a 40-year cover-up. The Bhopal Gas Tragedy is not history, and it remains avoided by Union Carbide (now Dow Chemical). It was a chemical Chernobyl, prior to Chernobyl.

40 Tons of Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) vented over sleeping shantytowns.
Up to 10,000+ Dead in the first 72 hours (activist estimates). Official counts were suppressed to ~3,000 to minimize liability.

Victims drowned in their own fluids. Their lungs turned to stone. Eyes burned white.

The gas didn't just kill the living; it poisoned the future.
500,000+ Survivors left with chronic lung fibrosis, blindness, and neurological ruin.

Epigenetic Damage: We are now seeing the third generation born affected. High rates of cerebral palsy, congenital malformations, and cancer in children whose grandparents breathed the gas.

Reproductive Violence: Spontaneous abortions and stillbirth rates skyrocketed. Women’s bodies became the site of chemical warfare.

Union Carbide fled the scene, leaving thousands of tons of toxic waste rotting in the ground.

Water Poisoning: The aquifer serving 42 neighborhoods is laced with heavy metals and carcinogens.

Soil Toxicity: The factory site remains a toxic hot zone. Children play in dust that contains mercury and lead.

Zero Cleanup: Dow Chemical refuses to clean the site, citing a corporate merger defense.

The 1989 settlement was $470 million. That averages to roughly $500 per victim. A pittance for a lifetime of medical bills and lost wages. That's the price of life.

Warren Anderson, CEO of Union Carbide, was declared a fugitive from justice in India but lived out his life in luxury in the Hamptons. He never faced trial.

Dow’s Stance: They claim they have no liability for Union Carbide’s "past actions," despite buying the company’s assets. They bought the profits, but rejected the corpses.

Bhopal isn't a tragedy of error; it's a tragedy of valuation. It is the result of a system that decided Indian lives were cheaper than safety protocols.
This is what happens when corporate profit is prioritized over human existence.

https://youtu.be/1jS1EO_RMzs

#Bhopal #CorporateGreed #HumanRights #EnvironmentalJustice #DowChemical

In case anyone wounders about the whole #Monsanto shitshow and #dioxin in #herbicides:

Monsanto and #DowChemical refuse to acknowledge having been informed by competitors from #Germany...

Scientists Are Warning of A Brand-New Kind of #AcidRain

Story by Darren Orf

Key points:
- While acid rain caused by sulfur dioxide is an environmental threat of the past (at least, for now), a new kind of acid is proliferating in rain water—as well as groundwater, ice cores, and even human blood.
- #TrifluoroaceticAcid (#TFA) is a subclass of “#ForeverChemical” that’s been steadily increasing in concentrations around the world.
- With calls to consider this rise in TFA a planetary threat, some governments are starting ban chemicals linked to TFA—but the threat will require global cooperation.

"Acid rain may have a sequel, and like most sequels, it’s arguably worse.

"While the world’s first bout of acid rain (at least, in modern times) came from increased concentrations of sulfuric acid produced largely from coal plants, this new #anthropogenic source is possibly more pervasive, more persistent, and more sinister. Its name is Trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), a kind of 'forever chemical' that, for decades, has been steadily increasing in #RainWater—but not just rain water.

"Countries around the world have found increasing concentrations in #groundwater, #ArcticIceCores, #wine, and even #HumanBlood. In fact, TFA is likely the most pervasive form of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl (#PFAS)—technically, a subclass known as ultrashort-chain perfluoroalkyl acid (#PFAA)—on Earth due in part to the fact that longer-chain PFAS degrade into TFA via #incinerators or #SewageTreatment plants. They’re also used in #refrigerants instead of #chlorofluorocarbons and #hydrochlorofluorocarbons, which were famously known to deplete the Earth’s #OzoneLayer.

"In October of 2024, a team of European environmental scientists raised the TFA alarm, stating that a rise in concentration could be considered a threat to '#PlanetaryBoundaries' — a system designed to make sure the planet remains #habitable for human life (which we are doing a real bang-up job at following).

" 'Since the 1990s, it has been suggested that hazard-related concerns of TFA and other short-chain PFAAs are much lower than those of PFAAs with longer perfluoroalkyl chains, which are more #bioaccumulative and generally more #toxic,' the authors wrote back in October. 'However, these early reports did not consider TFA’s ubiquitous accumulation in the environment, in particular its observed accumulation in water resources and #bioaccumulation in various plants, including crops.'

"One of the most dangerous things about PFAAs is what we don’t know about them. Unlike other PFAS (of which there are, sadly, thousands of different kinds), TFA is so small (a.k.a. ultrashort) that it’s water-soluble, meaning it likely passes through the human body pretty quickly. A new Nature article reports that some scientists find this evidence compelling enough to not even consider TFA a kind of PFAS, but a growing chorus of voices are raising concerns that increased concentrations of TFA in water and food sources could render TFA’s fast-moving nature a moot point.

"In fact, TFA’s water-solubility could be a long-term headache. If scientists and governments eventually decide that TFA does need to be removed from drinking water and other sources, current filtration technologies are not up to the task. In other words, ridding the world of TFA will not only be immensely difficult, it’ll also be incredibly expensive. Current regulations to eliminate certain forms of PFAS are already proving to be fiscally onerous.

"Thankfully, some governments are taking action. #Denmark, for example, banned 23 substances earlier this month known to contain PFAS that contribute to rising TFA concentrations. Meanwhile, the #US is lagging behind—the Environmental Protection Agency [#EPA] doesn’t even define TFA as a 'forever chemical,' much to the dismay of #environmentalist groups and to the merriment of many #industry leaders.

"Rising concentrations of TFA is the acid rain sequel no one wanted. But just like every terrible sequel ever made, it seems like we’re getting it anyway."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/scientists-are-warning-of-a-brand-new-kind-of-acid-rain/ar-AA1JhZaP?ocid=winp2fptaskbarhover&cvid=1f43e3736065441889cbebfb22a4eb74&ei=10

#WaterIsLife #Dupont #DowChemical #3M #ForeverChemicals #EPACuts #Deregulation #TrumpSucks #USPol #WorldPol #Environment #EnvironmentalDamage #GenXChemicals #3MLied

#MaineCDC recommends limiting fish consumption from 4 new bodies of water due to #PFAS contamination

Maine Public | By Nora Saks
Published June 30, 2025 at 5:27 PM EDT

"The Maine Center for Disease Control is recommending that people limit consuming fish from four new bodies of water due to #PFASContamination.

"The new advisories apply to game fish caught in #LovejoyPond in #AlbionME, the #SebasticookRiver in #BurnhamME and #BentonCollyerBrook in #GrayME, and #AndroscogginLake in #LeedsME and #WayneME.

"The Maine CDC issued the new guidelines after elevated levels of PFAS, the group of man-made #ForeverChemicals, were detected in fish tissue sampled by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection last year.

"In the recommendations updated last week, the Maine CDC also expanded its advisories on #AnnabessacookLake in #MonmouthME and #WinthropME, and #MessalonskeeStream in #OaklandME and #WatervilleME.

"These additions bring the total number of rivers, lakes and streams that have game fish contaminated with unsafe levels of PFAS to 25.

"For more details on the consumption limits on numbers and species of freshwater fish in each waterbody, check out the Maine CDC website."

Source:
https://www.mainepublic.org/health/2025-06-30/maine-cdc-recommends-limiting-fish-consumption-on-four-new-bodies-of-water

Maine CDC website:
https://www.maine.gov/dhhs/mecdc/environmental-health/eohp/fish/

#EPACuts #WaterIsLife #Maine #Pollution #PFAS #PFOS #ForeverChemicals #EnvironmentalDamage #Wildlife #PFASPollution #PFASContamnation #ManMadeDisasters #3M #3MLied #Scotchgard #Scotchban #BASF #Teflon #GenXChemicals #PFNA #PFHxS #Lubricants #Cosmetics #PFB #FireFightingFoam #DowChemical

Chemical exposure from ultra-#ProcessedFoods may contribute to health issues

Shannon Kelleher, May 16, 2025

"Toxic synthetic chemicals that migrate into ultra-processed foods from packaging, processing equipment and other sources may explain why these foods are so bad for our health, according to a new review article.

"In addition to the foods’ poor nutritional value, these chemicals represent an 'underappreciated and understudied' explanation for the link between ultra-processed foods and health problems such as obesity and other chronic diseases, the authors conclude in the article, published Friday in the journal Nature Medicine.

" 'The more (ultra-)processed a foodstuff, the greater its burden of synthetic chemicals generally is,; the authors wrote.

"Ultra-processed foods such as #candies, #HotDogs and #PackagedSoups are industrially made and contain many added ingredients not found in home kitchens, such as #stabilizers and added colors and flavors.

"Thousands of harmful substances including #bisphenols (such as #BPA), #phthalates, #microplastics (tiny plastic particles) and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (#PFAS) can leach into industrially produced foods during production, as well as from containers in which the foods are stored and while heating them up before they are eaten, according to the article. Emerging research suggests that even the 'normal and intended use' of plastic materials that come into contact with foods along their journey to our plates can contaminate these products, the authors wrote.

"Research increasingly shows that some of the same synthetic chemicals found in ultra-processed foods, as well as drinking water and other sources, are prevalent in our bodies. About 98% of the US population has PFAS in their blood, while microplastics and even smaller plastic particles (nanoplastics) accumulate in 'just about every portion of your body…no organ is spared, really,' Dr. Sanjay Rajagopalan, director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute at Case Western Reserve University, said during a May 15 webinar hosted by the group Beyond Plastics. Plastic particles have been found in everything from the placenta to the brain, lungs and heart, he said.

"In a 2024 study, Rajagopalan and colleagues found a link between microplastics in the arteries and risks for heart attacks and strokes.

" 'The particles looked quite nasty,' he said. 'They were jagged particles with sharp edges, very similar to cholesterol.' "

Read more:
https://www.thenewlede.org/2025/05/chemical-exposure-from-ultra-processed-foods-may-contribute-to-health-issues/

#ProcessedFood #PlasticFoodContainers #PlasticWrap #Preservatives #FoodSafety #ToxicChemicals #FoodIsLife #FoodDeserts #GrowYourOwn #CommunityGardens #EatFresh #DowChemical