It has been already 25 years since the Bhopal Disaster in India. On December 3 , 1984 there was a leak of Methyl Isocyanate in one of the pesticide plants of the American multinational Union Carbide (subsequently merged with Dow Chemical). The leak affected almost half a million people, of whom 23,000 died during the first hours.

Nowadays there are over 150.000 survivors suffering from chronic diseases and there are still children born with horrible malformations from parents affected by the leak of poisonous gases. More than 100.000 people suffer from serious illness due to that they are forced to drink contaminated water. At the same time, tons of extremely toxic waste piles up all out in the open air for many years. Nevertheless, the American chemical company has never accepted its responsibility.

This tragic accident in Bhopal has led to the first changes in the Seveso Directive highlighting the risks that the proximity of chemical installations to residential areas can entail.

In somewhat similar circumstances, Ecologists in Action remembers that in 1992, between the months of February and April seventy-five workers of the companies “Ardystil”, “Aeromán, SL”, “Aerotex,SL”, “Aerografía Textil, SL”,”Aero-Bris” and “Aero-Reig” situated in the industrial zone of Alcoy, Alicante, showed symptoms of severe respiratory diseases like Cystic fibrosis, Obliterative Bronchitis and Emphysema. This clinical picture, called Ardystil Syndrome caused the death of six of the workers.

These people worked with chemical products used in textile printing without the necessary knowledge to do so, without any respiratory protective measures, and in unhealthy working conditions.

Moreover, in the June of 2004 the courts in Alicante condemned eight companies and the labour inspector. Nevertheless, the victims have only received half of the compensation conceded them by the court and they are still waiting for appeals to be heard. The giants if the chemical sector BAYER and SOLVAY were also taken to court. However in the end they were declared free form responsibility.
On the 25th anniversary of the Bhopal's Disaster Ecologists in Action demands:

That industries and competent bodies comply with the obligations ordered by the current legislation.
Preventive measures should be taken in order to avoid accidents when new facilities are constructed and new technologies are implemented.

The population should be informed properly about the risks they are exposed to due to industrial activities in their environment.

The external emergency plans should be supplied with sufficient resources to act and the population should be informed about these plans.

Severity penalty should be imposed against all industries that fail to comply with the obligations and terms ordered by the current legislation.

The current legislation should be reviewed and the development of some external emergency plans should be forced with stricter limits then the ones demanded by the European Directive; and it should be necessary to ensure that the application of these plans also includes preventative measures in case of accidents.

A National Plan should be elaborated about the revision of new technologies destined to replace technologies with industrial risks with cleaner technologies without risks and respecting the environment

Directive known as Seveso II on the control of the inherent risks of major-accident hazards involving dangerous substances. The SEVESO Directive and its incorporation into the Spanish national law (Real Decreto 1254/1999) watches over for industrial security and sanctions the inherent risks of major-accidents where dangerous substances are involved. This regulation states the industries affected by this type of risk, depending on the quantity of dangerous substance present in the facility.