pesticide plant in Institute, West Virginia, continues to stockpile large quantities of methyl isocyanate (MIC), one of the gases released in Bhopal. Storage of this chemical poses an unnecessarily large danger to the residents of the surrounding Kanawah Valley. MIC, one of many "intermediates" used in pesticide production, is a flammable and highly reactive chemical which is extremely toxic by any form of contact. According to a report released last week by two U.S. environmental organizations, the Good Neighbor Project for Sustainable Industries (GNP) and the Environmental Careers Organization (ECO), R-P continues these practices despite available technologies that would eliminate the need for such storage. A local citizens organization, People Concerned About Methyl Isocyanate (PCMIC), commissioned the report. Rhone-Poulenc (R-P) purchased the Institute plant from the Union Carbide corporation two years after a similar Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India released a cloud of MIC around midnight on December 2, 1984, killing as many as 4,000 people and injuring hundreds of thousands more. Injuries ranged from temporary lung, eye and skin irritations and lesions to impaired lung function, loss of vision, gastro-intestinal problems, menstrual problems, weakened immune systems, anxiety and unrelieved depression. Today and tomorrow, events will be held throughout the world to commemorate the Bhopal disaster and to highlight the continuing struggle of the survivors for adequate health care and compensation. The R-P plant in West Virginia is one of the last plants in the world, possibly the very last, to continue to store large quantities of MIC. The author of the study, Milton Lapkin, Ph.D., stated, "After Bhopal, many corporations that formerly stockpiled MIC found safer ways of making products -- eliminating either the storage or the utilization of MIC. However, the R-P Institute plant continues to routinely store over 125,000 pounds of MIC, and has a rated capacity to store up to 240,000 pounds of the chemical." (Approximately 80,000 pounds of MIC were released in Bhopal.) According to Sanford Lewis, Director of the Good Neighbor Project, R-P's top officials have told him that they have never conducted a complete evaluation of the options for eliminating bulk MIC storage. Lewis notes that "While many chemical plants have installed various safety mechanisms since 1984, a lesson from Bhopal is that safety devices can fail. Several safety devices failed in the 1984 India incident, allowing the deadly cloud's escape. Safety systems have also failed several times at the Institute plant, in one case resulting in the hospitalization of 135 neighbors and workers." According to Lewis, the best solution is the inherently safe one -- avoiding storage of these highly dangerous materials entirely. Because of continuing safety questions and a 1993 explosion at the R-P plant, an alliance of neighbors, college professors and labor unions has been seeking permission to conduct a comprehensive safety audit of the plant. People Concerned About MIC asked Rhone-Poulenc in June to cooperate with Dr. Lapkin in his assessment. However, to date the company has neither allowed a site visit nor provided him with the in-depth information needed for a full review. With the release of this interim report, the group once again calls on the company to improve the safety of the Kanawah Valley. People Concerned About MIC secured the services the Good Neighbor Project for Sustainable Industries (GNP) and the Environmental Careers Organization (ECO), to asses MIC reduction opportunities. GNP aids neighbors and workers to oversee pollution prevention, toxics use reduction and plant safety by providing strategic and technical support throughout the U.S. ECO has a program tapping retired engineers and chemists to provide technical assistance to citizens' groups on toxics use reduction. Together the national organizations contracted with Dr. Lapkin, a chemist who has worked for chemical companies for 35 years, to undertake the inventory reduction evaluation. Source: GNP press release, November 28, 1994; Global Pesticide Campaigner, December 1994; The Ecologist, September/October 1994. Contact: The Good Neighbor Project for Sustainable Industries, P.O. Box 79225, Waverly, MA 02179 U.S.; phone (617) 489-3686/ (617) 489-2482; email sanlewis@igc.apc.org. For an automatic electronic flyer on The Good Neighbor Project you can send a message to goodneighbor- info@econet.apc.org. For a copy of the report, send US$5.00 to GNP. The Bhopal Disaster -- The Tenth Anniversary December 2 and 3, 1994, mark the ten year anniversary of the Bhopal Disaster. The December issue of the Global Pesticide Campaigner focuses on the disaster and what has happened since -- both in India and around the world. Articles include: -- The Bhopal Tragedy: Ten Years After by Joshua Karliner -- Where Does the Circle Begin? The Global Dangers of Pesticide Plants by Angus Wright -- The Disaster at ANNAVERSA, Cordoba, Mexico by Jorge de Leon Rodriquez -- and a report on the International Medical Commission on Bhopal. The lead article, The Bhopal Tragedy: Ten Years After, is available online. Contact paninfopubs@igc.apc.org to receive a copy or to obtain information on how to receive a hardcopy of the Global Pesticide Campaigner =========================================================== | PANNA | for standard information | | Phone:(415) 541-9140 | about PANNA send a short | | Fax:(415) 541-9253 | email message to | | email: panna@econet.apc.org | panna-info@econet.apc.org | | gopher: gopher.econet.apc.org| | | ___ | | To subscribe to PANUPS send email to MAJORDOMO@igc.apc.org| | with the following text on one line: subscribe panups | | To unsubscibe send the following: unsubscribe panups | =========================================================== --- * Origin: Psychotronic BBS (1:3641/1) @PATH: 3641/1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- (90) Sun 4 Dec 94 19:29 By: Adriana C. Bruggeman To: All Re: Re: PANUPS: MIC Still Stored in Virgini ---------------------------------------------------------------------- @MSGID: 1:3641/223 0006acd5 @PID GIGO+ sn 175 at psybbs vsn 0.99 pl1 From: jeaan@vtaix.cc.vt.edu (Adriana C. Bruggeman) @Subject: Re: PANUPS: MIC Still Stored in Virgini Date: 4 Dec 1994 19:29:22 GMT @Message-Id: <3bt5aj$dj2@solaris.cc.vt.edu> PANNA InfoPubs (paninfopubs@igc.apc.org) wrote: : >From: PANNA InfoPubs : Ten Years After Bhopal, Large Quantities of MIC Still Stored : in West Virginia [snip] Hello! How come the subject of this posting says: "MIC Still Stored in Virgini" This doesn't really cover the story, which is about MIC in West Virginia. Thank you for your attention. Jeaan -- """"""""" Jeaan Bruggeman """"""""""""""""""" \ / """"""""" Dept. Biological Systems Engineering \ - / Virginia Tech ( X ) Blacksburg, VA 24061-0303 /| |\ USA / / \ \ U U jeaan@vtaix.cc.vt.edu / \ \|/ \|/ """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" """ --- * Origin: [via Psychotronic BBS = Durham, NC = 919-286-4542]Virgini (1:3641/1) @PATH: 3641/1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- (91) Sun 4 Dec 94 21:50 By: bmccubbin To: All Re: Ontario Land Trusts ---------------------------------------------------------------------- @MSGID: 1:3641/223 0006ace1 @PID GIGO+ sn 175 at psybbs vsn 0.99 pl1 From: bmccubbin@ivory.trentu.ca @Subject: Ontario Land Trusts @Message-Id: <1994Dec4.215029.25053@blaze.trentu.ca> @Sender: news@blaze.trentu.ca (USENET News System) @Reply-To: bmccubbin@ivory.trentu.ca Date: Sun, 4 Dec 1994 21:50:29 GMT Can Ontario lands held in trust be expropriated? What is a conservation easement, and how so these affect land trusts? Also requesting any information available on "the Condominium Act" Thank you. --- * Origin: [via Psychotronic BBS = Durham, NC = 919-286-4542]Trent U (1:3641/1) @PATH: 3641/1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- (92) Sun 4 Dec 94 19:28 By: lcalhoun To: All Re: tomatoes and disease ---------------------------------------------------------------------- @MSGID: 1:3641/223 0006ad11 @PID GIGO+ sn 175 at psybbs vsn 0.99 pl1 From: lcalhoun@utkvx.utk.edu @Subject: tomatoes and disease Date: Sun, 4 Dec 94 19:28:16 GMT @Message-Id: <3bu4t5$40p@martha.utk.edu> Hello. I need some help with an assignment in my Crop Physiology and Ecology course. We are to post an agriculturally-related question to the internet and report on the responses we've received. My question is also interest-related, so any help would be doubly appreciated. Does anyone have information to share on the disease resistance of tomatoes to Fusarium oxysporum? Anything even remotely related will be helpful, but my main concentration looks at the mechanisms of the resistance. Phytoalexins (as controversial as these may be) or hypersensitive response, are these involved? Thank you for your time. Lori Calhoun The University of Tennessee, @ Knoxville Department of Plant and Soil Science lcalhoun@utkvx.utk.edu --- * Origin: [via Psychotronic BBS = Durham, NC = 919-286-4542]Univers (1:3641/1) @PATH: 3641/1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- (93) Mon 5 Dec 94 0:50 By: Pollinator To: All Re: Re: Talloy Trees Info Wanted ---------------------------------------------------------------------- @MSGID: 1:3641/223 0006ad1a