Check out this trailer I made some stuff for...
It's a film about the Bhopal Disaster of December 1984 that poisoned and killed more than 16,000. The plant was owned by a chemical company 'Union Carbide' that was pretty nasty to their workers. The factory was in decay... pipes were corroded and leaking. The whole factory was surrounded by a massive shanty town which is where the workers and their families lived.
The chemical itself is reactive to water (which is what makes polyurethane foam expand). Water leaked into one of the 40 ton tanks of MIC. Upon contact with water it released MIC gas and other toxic gases like cyanide. The chamber exploded and released tons of gas. What is horrible is that it's a heavy gas that sits at ground level. So it basically killed anyone sleeping and children. Horrible.
To add insult to injury Union Carbide are still under compensating them. That's basically the premise of the film. Martin Sheen funded the film. To bring awareness to it. Good man.
There was a weird irony making this film. The model of the Union Carbide Chemical factory we made was made of a collection of odds and sods... for certain bits we used replicated cast parts made of Fast Cast resin.. which is a 2 part polyurethane plastic. one part is Polyol and the other is Methyl isocyanate. It just so happens that the poisonous gas that killed 30,000 people in the surrounding area was Methyl isocyanate gas.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n3TMg2MzzQ
Wow, so sad! :-(
This is the stuff that makes me so angry, the way some people and corporations put monetary gain over people's lives! :x
It was pretty depressing what I had to make. There are a famous set of photos from the disaster of a half buried baby, only his face exposed... I won't display the actual photos.
I had to make the baby. When they finally got it on set the crew was too upset by it and decided not to use it. Usually a prop is something you want to be seen on screen. But this time I'm actually impressed with the director for not going for the 'money shot' for the sake of exploitation and shock factor.
Dow chemical acquired Union Carbide after that I believe, and they got away with undercompensating because they got to say wasn't our watch, it was these other guys we own now.
So yea... this is what corporations do. They have no country, no human decency even, only profit motive. I maintain my view that corporate structure is directly against human progress and betterment.
We get our Polyurethane plastic and silicone from Dow Corning. Irony again.
I agree with you 100%. The governments are in so much debt they let the corporations do what they want to make money so they can pay the debt they owe to the BIG banks.
It's definitely coming to a head.
I know MIC and polyol theres another TDI used in the process to.
I have built control systems for this process and there's safety circuits built in.
The outcome of the disaster will never meet the destruction of those families.
If I said "I had a dream", you'll understand the pain.
The symptoms from start to death can be told too. It's a terrible tragedy and aaaghh.
Sometimes I wish greed didn't exist.
I'll watch the video later. I've seen too much already.
Made my heart hurt :(
Hats off to Martin Sheen. The director Ravi Kumar was trying to get it made for years to raise awareness and Martin Sheen heard about it through some channel. He tried pushing it around hollywood as a producer but they weren't interested... surprise. So Sheen put up the money himself and starred as the incompetent owner of Union Carbide for free. It looks like it's going to be a stunning movie.
It's a blend of Methyl isocyanate, phenylisocyanate and other isomers Szaxx. The one we used specifically had a 'warning contains Methyl isocyanate' emblazoned across the top of the drum.
The base material for most of the modern day plastics starts off as magnesium isocyanate. This base is used in many other unbelievable things too. If you only knew it can be anything from girls make-up to nerve gas.
Products containing free isocyanates are greatly reduced if not banned already in some countries.
Working with safety shutdown systems occasionally gets you a nasty vid to view of when things go wrong. It keeps you more aware or something along those lines. India was one.sluceing with a valve not closed mmmmm not a good thing to do.
QuoteIndia was one.sluceing with a valve not closed mmmmm not a good thing to do.
Yes I really question the right of private companies interested in profit motive to run sites like these in such close proximity to heavily inhabited areas. Like you just don't want someone who is interested in their bottom line designing and operating a nuclear power plant, such as I know happens in the US at least, or any sort of high hazard facility.
I am very depressed after seeing the trailer. I am feeling very bad for those people.
I've just watched the taster. So much is missing, you have to watch the finished article.
I think it'll be brilliant by what I've just seen.
they cannot be under compansating them still in November 1994, UCC completed the sale of its interest in UCIL to McLeod Russel Ltd. of Calcutta
also in that time when UCC owned the plant the Indian governmant controlled banks and the indian public held 49% stake in the company
and the Supreme court of india had to give the UCC permission to sell the shares and property to McLeod Russel
Why is the government interffering with private????????????????????????????
i find no wonder that eventually a mistake was made, the more research i find on UCIL the clearer it is to understand something was going to go wrong.
Banks under public/government control hahahahahaha of course something is going wrong
The dilapidated factory is still there. They didn't bother cleaning it up... or rather McLeod Russel Ltd. of Calcutta isn't quick to clear the site. Naughty.
The factory had a couple of accidents leading up to the big one.
i bet but in order to do business there the company has to give almost 50% of shares to the public and banks, and the banks are owned by the government/public.
it makes no sense and no wonder a catastrophe occurred
It was also due to a very low level shanty town that surrounded the plant. Directly over the plant's fence. There were so many factors.
yes there were too many factors, it was just a mixture of emotion and interests among the people in that time and space.
sadly though the end result is what it is