Bhopal water still toxic 25 years later

Source Guardian (UK)

Groundwater found near the site of the world's worst chemical industrial accident in Bhopal is still toxic and poisoning residents a quarter of a century after a gas leak there killed thousands, two studies have revealed. Delhi's Center for Science and the Environment said that water found two miles from the factory contained pesticides at levels 40 times higher than the Indian safety standard. In a second study, the UK-based Bhopal Medical Appeal (BMA) found a chemical cocktail in the local drinking water–with one carcinogen, carbon tetrafluoride, present at 2,400 times the World Health Organization's guidelines. Around 5,000 people were killed when clouds of toxic gas escaped from Union Carbide's pesticide plant at midnight on 3 December 1984. 15,000 more died in the following weeks, and activists say that the disaster is still poisoning a new generation of victims.