Word: compounds
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Indian officials began their investigations, details started to emerge about what went wrong at the plant. Methyl isocyanate, a colorless chemical compound that behaves in humans and animals like a potent form of tear gas (see box), is used by Union Carbide as an ingredient in producing relatively toxic pesticides known as Sevin and Temik. At the Bhopal facility it was stored in three double-walled, stainless steel tanks, buried mostly underground to limit leakage in the event of an accident and to help shield them from air temperatures that could soar to 120° F in summer. Refrigerated to keep...
...produce Union Carbide's Temik, a product marketed under Robert Gordon Haines, the company's manager for new pesticides. It is one of a group of chemicals called isocyanates that are used to make polyurethane, which, in turn, is used to make paint and varnish. The MIC compound also has been made in the U.S. at Union Carbide's plant in Institute, W. Va., as well as by other companies in West Germany, Japan and South Korea...
Several European countries produce or import an array of deadly compounds, among them methyl isocyanate (MIC). In Britain, a division of Ciba-Geigy Chemicals, Ltd., is the only company permitted to deal with the substance. Located two miles from Grimsby, a town of 92,000, the firm imports and stores the chemical in 45-gal. stainless-steel drums. No more than 18,000 gal. is kept in stock at one time. But even with these precautions, Grimsby villagers gathered in protest after they found out that the lethal compound was being held in their midst. They were led by Anthony...
...Nearly a billion tons of pesticides and herbicides, comprising 225 different chemicals, was produced in the U.S. last year, and an additional 79 million lbs. was imported. MIC is stored or used at plants in New York, West Virginia, Texas, Alabama and Georgia. Those insecticides not dependent on the compound, like malathion, are also construct ed of toxic molecules. Dow Chemical Co., one of the nation's largest producers of agricultural and industrial chemicals, is reconsidering its safety and spillage codes. American Cyanamid, a major chemical manufacturer, is busy comparing its emergency procedures with those of Union Carbide...
Assume that at the basic minimum the process of diminishing requires a state of grief. Is it really possible to grieve for any person's death? A year ago in Lebanon, a fanatic drove a truck bomb into the Marine compound at Beirut International Airport, killing 241. We responded to those deaths, all right; Americans grieving for Americans. The truck driver also died in the explosion. Any grief left over for him? What about all the Lebanese who have been dropping in the streets for a decade? Feel those deaths, do we? We say yes sincerely, but we only...