Union carbide's Bhopal incident: A retrospective

✍ Scribed by Michael J. Fischer

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 828 KB
• Volume: 12
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0895-5646
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00055797

✦ Synopsis

This article examines the actual events of the Bhopal gas disaster as a prelude to considering the social treatment of catastrophic risks of this variety. In the context of the conference, Bhopal is held out to be symbolic of man-made catastrophes having sudden impact and is therefore the contrasting episode to an examination of the symbolic episode for gradual man-made catastrophes, asbestos liability. Bhopal is then connected to the circumstances which created a shortage of commercial catastrophe liability insurance in the 1980s. Its influence on the restructuring of the market is then discussed. A commentary on the buying habits of large industrial corporations is also included.