Caring for Student Health
By Naomi Dillon
It makes perfect sense: If you don’t feel well, you won’t perform well. Professional athletes know this. Medical professionals know this. Moms and dads know this. And in an increasing number of public schools, district officials know it, too.
And many are doing something about it, in the form of more than 2,000 school-based health centers across the nation.
Known also by their acronym (SBHCs), these clinics take many shapes and forms, sometimes occupying a wing in a school building, a mobile unit on school grounds, or an old shuttered campus retrofitted as a modern medical facility. Most provide preventative and wellness care, although more are adding mental health, dental, and eye care services to their list of offerings.
“Lots of times, people like to describe them as a doctor’s office, but often they are more comprehensive than that,” says Linda Juszczak, executive director of the National Assembly on School-Based Health Care.
Numerous studies have shown that SBHCs can improve student health while lowering hospitalizations and Medicaid expenses. Several have noted sharp reductions in absenteeism and tardiness rates in schools where health centers exist. At least one study has determined that students who frequented the clinics for mental health services had higher grade point averages than those who didn’t use the centers.
Meanwhile, a 2010 study published in the Journal of Community Health estimated that a nationwide school-based clinic program would cost $4.5 billion but save nearly $25 billion in medical and opportunity costs for missed work and premature death from asthma. That same year, as part of President Obama’s health care reform bill, Congress appropriated $200 million for school-based health programs.
“It’s a triumph of common sense,” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told the Denver Post last summer. “Schools should be the heart of the neighborhood. You’re putting a critical, critical resource right there at the school building.”
Juszczak says the federal government’s support has sent the message “that the clinics are here to stay, that they are filling a role that’s appreciated and essential in the communities that need them.”
“That’s changed the attitude that people have of these programs,” she says.
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The Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) exists to record objects found by members of the public and enter them onto an online database. Since it began in 1997, PAS has recorded over 750,000 objects of all periods of history from Palaeolithic flints to eighteenth-century coins and has become an important source of new archaeological data to be used by students and academics in their research. Initially based on a small group of pilot regions, recording was extended to cover the whole of England and Wales in 2003, at which point Oxfordshire became a part of the Scheme with the employment of a local Finds Liaison Officer (FLO) in the county. Alongside recording ordinary objects, PAS also deals with objects which come under remits of the Treasure Act 1996, which include gold and silver artefacts and coin hoards.
The Ashmolean has been officially involved with the PAS since 2004 when the Scheme’s ‘National Finds Advisor for Medieval and Post-medieval Coinage’ became a part of our Heberden Coin Room. A further strengthening of the ties between the Ashmolean and PAS came with the re-opening of the museum in 2009 when the Coin Room and Department of Antiquities started a monthly ‘identification service’ for artefacts and coinage, at which the Oxfordshire FLO also attends. Through this service, PAS has recorded hundreds of objects, many of which would probably not have come to PAS’s attention in any other way. The importance of PAS and local finds to the Ashmolean can be seen in the displays of local material around the museum, especially the ‘England 400-1600’ and ‘Money’ galleries, the latter housing a set of drawers including a range of finds made by a local metal-detectorist.
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Plants flower faster than climate change models predict
Scientific models are failing to accurately predict the impact of global warming on plants, says a new report.
Researchers found in long-term studies that some are flowering up to eight times faster than models anticipate.
The authors say that poor study design and a lack of investment in experiments partly account for the difference.
They suggest that spring flowering and leafing will continue to advance at the rate of 5 to 6 days per year for every degree celsius of warming.
The results are published in the journal Nature.
For more than 20 years, scientists have been carrying out experiments to mimic the impacts of rising temperatures on the first leafing and flowering of plant species around the world.
End Quote This Rutishauser Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research
The bottom line is that the impacts might be bigger than we have believed until now”
Researchers had assumed that plants would respond in essentially the same way to experimental warming with lamps and open top chambers as they would to changes in temperatures in the real world.
Very little has been done to test the assumption until this study lead by Dr Elizabeth Wolkovich, who is now at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
With her colleagues she studied the timing of the flowering and leafing of plants in observational studies and warming experiments spanning four continents and 1,634 plant species.
According to Dr Wolkovich, the results were a surprise.
"What we found is that the experiments don't line up with the long term data, and in fact they greatly underestimate how much plants change their leafing and flowering with warming," she said.
"So for models based on experimental data, then we would expect that plants are leafing four times faster and flowering eight times faster in the long term historical record than what we're using in some of the models."'Consistent message'
Observational data have been gathered by scientific bodies for many years. In the UK, the systematic recording of flowering times dates back to 1875, when the Royal Meteorological Society established a national network of observers.
Since then, data has also been recorded by full-time biologists and part-time enthusiasts, and in recent years there have been mass-participation projects such as BBC Springwatch.
This new research suggests that these observations of flowering and leafing carried out in many different parts of the world over the past thirty years are remarkably similar according to Dr Wolkovich.
"In terms of long term observations, the records are very coherent and very consistent and they suggest for every degree celsius of warming we get we are going to get a five- to six-day change in how plants leaf and flower."
She argues that the difficulties in mimicking the impacts of nature in an artificial setting are much greater than many scientists estimate. The team found that in some cases the use of warming chambers to artificially raise temperatures can sometimes have the opposite effect.
"In the real world, we don't just see changes in temperature - we see changes in precipitation and cloud patterns and other factors - so certainly when you think about replicating changes in clouds, we are very, very far away from being able to do that.
"I guess we will never get to perfectly match nature, but I am hopeful as scientists we can do much, much better, given funding resources."
The team found that the greater investment in the design and monitoring of experiments, the more accurate the result.
"We have a very consistent message from the long-term historical records about how plants are changing, but we need to think more critically about how we fund and invest in and really design experiments," said Dr Wolkovich.
"We do need them in the future, they are the best way going forward to project how species are changing but right now what we're doing isn't working as well as I think it could."
Other researchers were equally surprised by the results.
Dr This Rutishauser is at the Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of Bern in Switzerland. He says that in light of this work scientists will have to rethink the impacts of global warming.
"The bottom line is that the impacts might be bigger than we have believed until now. That's going to provoke a lot of work to probably revise modelling results for estimations of what's going to happen in the future for food production especially."
Dr Wolkovich agrees that if the models are so significantly underestimating the real world observations, there could be also be impacts on water the world over.
"If a whole plant community starts growing a week earlier than we expect according to these experiments, it's going to take up a lot more water over the growing season and if you add to that many years of the model projections, you are going to see big changes in the water supply."
She appeals to people to get involved in citizen science projects and help gather data on flowering and leafing, especially in remote areas.
The National Phenology Network in the US logged its millionth observation this week, and similar programmes are underway in the UK, Sweden, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, and a pan-European database is under development.
"We have very few monitoring networks. We need many, many people out there observing this because it is changing faster and across more habitats than we are currently measuring - we need more help!"


The authoritative source of information about all types of bottled waters, IBWA members include U.S. and International bottlers, distributors and suppliers. IBWA represents our industry’s uncompromising commitment to the safety and availability of bottled water worldwide.
Bottled water companies work hard to protect the environment, and play an important role in promoting recycling of plastic containers and groundwater management.
The bottled water industry is one of thousands of food, beverage and commercial water users. Bottled Water companies actively support comprehensive ground water management practices that are science-based, treat all users equitably, multi-jurisdictional, and provide for future needs of this important resource. Learn more.
Bottled water is a safe, healthy, and convenient packaged food product, which is comprehensively regulated at both the federal and state level.
Strictly regulated as a packaged food product by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), bottled water is a safe, refreshing, convenient, and consistently reliable beverage choice. Did you know that by mandate of federal law, the FDA regulations governing the safety and quality of bottled water must be as stringent as the EPA regulations which govern tap water? Learn more.
MYTH: Bottled water isn't as regulated as tap water.
FACT: By federal law, the FDA regulations governing the safety and quality of bottled water must be as stringent as the EPA regulations which govern tap water.
To suggest in any way that bottled water is less stringently regulated than tap water is simply not true...


is the standard method used by scientists to determine the
age of certain fossilized remains. As scientists will often
claim something to be millions or billions of years old
(ages that do not conform to the Biblical account of the age
of the earth), Christians are often left wondering about the
accuracy of the carbon-14 method. The truth is, carbon-14
dating (or radiocarbon dating, as it’s also called) is not a
precise dating method in many cases, due to faulty
assumptions and other limitations on this method.
has a weight of twelve atomic mass units (AMU’s), and is the
building block of all organic matter (plants and animals).
A small percentage of carbon atoms have an atomic weight of
14 AMU’s. This is carbon-14. Carbon-14 is an unstable,
radioactive isotope of carbon 12. As with any radioactive
isotope, carbon-14 decays over time. The half-life of
carbon 14 is approximate 5,730 years. That means if you
took one pound of 100 percent carbon-14, in 5,730 years, you
would only have half a pound left.
created in the upper atmosphere as nitrogen atoms are
bombarded by cosmic radiation. For every one trillion
carbon-12 atoms, you will find one carbon-14 atoms. The
carbon-14 that results from the reaction caused by cosmic
radiation quickly changes to carbon dioxide, just like
normal carbon-12 would. Plants utilize, or “breath in”
carbon dioxide, then ultimately release oxygen for animals
to inhale. The carbon-14 dioxide is utilized by plants in
the same way normal carbon dioxide is. This carbon-14
dioxide then ends up in humans and other animals as it moves
up the food chain.
There is then a
ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in the bodies of plants,
humans, and other animals that can fluctuate, but will be
fixed at the time of death. After death, the carbon-14
would begin to decay at the rate stated above. In 1948, Dr.
W.F. Libby introduced the carbon-14 dating method at the
University of Chicago. The premise behind the method is to
determine the ratio of carbon-14 left in organic matter, and
by doing so, estimate how long ago death occurred by running
the ratio backwards. The accuracy of this method, however,
relies on several faulty assumptions.
carbon-14 dating to be accurate, one must assume the rate of
decay of carbon-14 has remained constant over the years.
However, evidence indicates that the opposite is true.
Experiments have been performed using the radioactive
isotopes of uranium-238 and iron-57, and have shown that
rates can and do vary. In fact, changing the environments
surrounding the samples can alter decay rates.
The second faulty
assumption is that the rate of carbon-14 formation has
remained constant over the years. There are a few reasons
to believe this assumption is erroneous. The industrial
revolution greatly increased the amount of carbon-12
released into the atmosphere through the burning of coal.
Also, the atomic bomb testing around 1950 caused a rise in
neutrons, which increased carbon-14 concentrations. The
great flood which Noah and family survived would have
uprooted and/or buried entire forests. This would decrease
the release of carbon-12 to the atmosphere through the decay
carbon-14 dating to be accurate, the concentrations of
carbon-14 and carbon-12 must have remained constant in the
atmosphere. In addition to the reasons mentioned in the
previous paragraph, the flood provides another evidence that
this is a faulty assumption. During the flood, subterranean
water chambers that were under great pressure would have
been breached. This would have resulted in an enormous
amount of carbon-12 being released into the oceans and
atmosphere. The effect would be not unlike opening a can of
soda and having the carbon dioxide fizzing out. The water
in these subterranean chambers would not have contained
carbon-14, as the water was shielded from cosmic radiation.
This would have upset the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12.
To make carbon-14
dating work, Dr. Libby also assumed that the amount of
carbon-14 being presently produced had equaled the amount of
carbon-12 – he assumed that they had reached a balance. The
formation of carbon-14 increases with time, and at the time
of creation was probably at or near zero. Since carbon-14
is radioactive, it begins to decay immediately as it’s
formed. If you start with no carbon-14 in the atmosphere,
it would take over 50,000 years for the amount being
produced to reach equilibrium with the amount decaying. One
of the reasons we know that the earth is less than 50,000
years old is because of the biblical record. Another reason
we can know this is because the amount of carbon-14 in the
atmosphere is only 78% what it would be if the earth were
Libby and the evolutionist crowd have assumed that all plant
and animal life utilize carbon-14 equally as they do
carbon-12. To be grammatically crass, this ain’t
necessarily so. Live mollusks off the Hawaiian coast have
had their shells dated with the carbon-14 method. These
test showed that the shells died 2000 years ago! This news
came as quite a shock to the mollusks that had been using
those shells until just recently.
We’ve listed five
faulty assumptions here that have caused overestimates of
age using the carbon-14 method. The list of non-compliant
dates from this method is endless. Most evolutionists today
would conclude that carbon-14 dating is – at best – reliable
for only the last 3000 to 3500 years. There is another
reason that carbon-14 dating has yielded questionable
results – human bias.
If you’ve ever
been part of a medical study, you’re probably familiar with
the terms “blind study” and “double-blind study”. In a
blind study, using carbon-14 dating for example, a person
would send in a few quality control samples along with the
actual sample to the laboratory. The laboratory analyst
should not know which sample is the one of interest. In
this way, the analyst could not introduce bias into the
dating of the actual sample. In a double-blind study (using
an experimental drug study as an example), some patients
will be given the experimental drug, while others will be
given a placebo (a harmless sugar pill). Neither the
patients nor the doctors while know who gets what. This
provides an added layer of protection against bias.
that do not fit a desired theory are often excluded by
alleging cross-contamination of the sample. In this manner,
an evolutionist can present a sample for analysis, and tell
the laboratory that he assumes the sample to be somewhere
between 50,000 years old and 100,000 years old. Dates that
do not conform to this estimate are thrown out. Repeated
testing of the sample may show nine tests that indicate an
age of 5000 to 10,000 years old, and one test that shows an
age of 65,000 years old. The nine results showing ages that
do not conform to the pre-supposed theory are excluded.
This is bad science, and it is practiced all the time to fit
with the evolutionary model.
The Shroud of
Turin, claimed to be the burial cloth of Christ, was
supposedly dated by a blind test. Actually, the control
specimens were so dissimilar that the technicians at the
three laboratories making the measurements could easily tell
which specimen was from the Shroud. This would be like
taking a piece of wood and two marbles and submitting them
to the lab with the instructions that “one of these is from
an ancient ponderosa pine, guess which.” The test would
have been blind if the specimens had been reduced to carbon
powder before they were given to the testing laboratories.
Humans are naturally biased. We tend to see what we want to
see, and explain away unwanted data.
Perhaps the best
description of the problem in attempting to use the
Carbon-14 dating method is to be found in the words of Dr.
Robert Lee. In 1981, he wrote an article for the
Anthropological Journal of Canada, in which stated:
troubles of the radiocarbon dating method are undeniably
deep and serious. Despite 35 years of technological
refinement and better understanding, the underlying
assumptions have been strongly challenged, and warnings
are out that radiocarbon may soon find itself in a crisis
situation. Continuing use of the method depends on a
fix-it-as-we-go approach, allowing for contamination here,
fractionation there, and calibration whenever possible. It
should be no surprise then, that fully half of the dates
are rejected. The wonder is, surely, that the remaining
half has come to be accepted…. No matter how useful it
is, though, the radiocarbon method is still not capable of
yielding accurate and reliable results. There are gross
discrepancies, the chronology is uneven and relative, and
the accepted dates are actually the selected dates.”
accuracy of carbon-14 dating relies on faulty assumptions,
and is subject to human bias. At best, radiocarbon dating
is only accurate for the past few thousand years. As we’ve
seen though, even relatively youthful samples are often
dated incorrectly. The Biblical record gives us an
indication of an earth that is relatively young. The most
reliable use of radiocarbon dating supports that position.
This method of dating, overall, tends to be as faulty and
ill conceived as the evolutionary model that is was designed
TO EVOLUTION MAIN PAGE


What is Braille?
Braille is an arrangement of clusters of six points, some of which are raised, representing letters, sounds and words. The fingertips are passed over the embossed dots enabling the reader to feel the points. This process means that a visually impaired or blind person who understands the significance of the patterns at his/her fingertips can read.
Who was Louis Braille?
Louis Braille was a Frenchman. Born in 1809, he was a normally-sighted baby. Unfortunately he lost his sight three years later when his eyes became infected after an accident. Seven years later he won a scholarship to the National Institute for the Blind in Paris where he learned to play musical instruments. He was an intelligent student and soon went on to play the organ in churches all round the country.
The school was a leader in the field of teaching the blind and its founder had invented a system of raised letters on paper in order to teach blind children to read. There were drawbacks to this method, however. The books were large and unwieldy, and although the children learned to read they did not learn to write.
Fortunately this situation was soon to change. In 1821 a former officer of the French Army paid a visit to the school. His name was Charles Barbier and he had been commanded by Napoleon to invent a system for writing at night, silently and without light, for use in the French Army. Barbier had come up with a system of twelve dots and dashes, raised on paper. The code had not taken off very well, however, as it was too difficult to learn. Nevertheless he told the institute about it and the idea sparked Louis Braille’s creative abilities. He quickly spotted the flaw in Barbier’s system and set about simplifying the code to six dots which made it much easier to learn to use. The beauty of Braille’s system lay in the fact that the fingertip did not need to move around in order to trace out each letter or cover a 12-dot cluster – the pattern of just six raised dots could be read with one touch. Also, blind people could write as well as read with this method.
Louis Braille worked tirelessly on his system until he completed it in the mid 1820s, while still in his teens. In later years he widened the scope of the code so that both music and mathematics could be read and produced with it. By 1830 the first book in Braille had been published.
In adulthood Louis Braille stayed on at the Institute as a teacher though he didn’t teach his system for reading and writing to the children there – ‘Braille’ had yet to catch on officially. In 1852 he succumbed to tuberculosis and died. Just two years later his code of raised dots was given official recognition as the system to be used when teaching literacy to the blind.
Exactly one hundred years after his death Louis Braille’s remains were transferred to the Panthéon in Paris, re-interred and accorded the honours the inventor of a reading and writing system for the blind deserved. In spite of the fact that the use of Braille is declining nowadays due to advances in technology, Louis Braille’s place in history is assured.
See also: More important problems to deal with than blindness?
Quick Quiz: Read the clues below and write the solutions on a piece of paper. Then take the first letter of each answer and rearrange them to find the hidden word connected with this Talking Point.
1. He lost his sight three years later when his eyes became infected after an __________.
2. The school was a __________ in the field of teaching the blind.
3. There were __________ to this method, however.
4. A former officer of the French Army paid a visit to the school whose name was Charles __________.
5. He had been commanded by Napoleon to invent a system for writing at __________, silently and without light.
6. Barbier had come up with a system of twelve dots and __________, raised on paper.
7. The beauty of Braille’s system lay __________ the fact that the fingertip did not need to move around in order to trace out each letter or cover a 12-dot cluster.
8. Louis Braille worked tirelessly on his system until he completed it in the mid 1820s, while still in his __________.
9. __________ one hundred years after his death Louis Braille’s remains were transferred to the Panthéon in Paris.


Animal & Veterinary
FARAD – Resource for Residue Problem Avoidance
FDA Veterinarian Newsletter July/August 2003 Volume XVIII, No 4
The Food Animal Residue Avoidance Databank (FARAD) is a computer-based decision support system originally designed to provide livestock producers, extension specialists, and veterinarians with practical information on how to avoid drug, pesticide and environmental contaminant residue problems. However, FARAD also offers emergency response assistance for accidental or deliberate chemical exposures to food animals. Since 1982 the FARAD has provided emergency hotline assistance to State and Federal agencies dealing with chemical contamination in food animals.
FARAD is a collaboration between USDA, FDA, and three Universities (North Carolina State University, University of Florida, and University of California, Davis). FARAD was authorized by Congress in 1998 (Public Law 105-185). Dr. Jim Riviere, Professor, North Carolina State University, College of Veterinary Medicine says one of FARAD’s functions is “to provide withdrawal time guidance in support of extra-label drug use under AMDUCA.” Dr. Riviere adds, “They also provide such information to the FDA-supported Veterinary Antimicrobial Decision Support System (VADSS) program on Prudent Antimicrobial Use and internationally to the Commonwealth Agricultural Bureau, International (CABI), which is a global storehouse and disseminator of agricultural databases.”
FARAD personnel at the University of California, Davis and the University of Florida comb through numerous sources of residue avoidance information and extract information that will be of greatest use. These data are reviewed by residue experts to ensure accuracy and consistency, and further analysis is done by FARAD personnel at North Carolina State University to explore novel ways in which the data may be used to prevent residue problems. FARAD maintains an up-to-date computerized compilation of:
- Current label information including withdrawal times on all drugs approved for use in food animals in the United States and on hundreds of products used in Canada, Europe and Australia.
- Official tolerances for drugs and pesticides in tissues, eggs and milk.
- Descriptions and sensitivities of rapid screening tests for detecting residues in tissues, eggs and milk.
- Data on the fate of chemicals in food animals.
FARAD maintains the largest database of animal pharmacokinetic data in the world. These data describe the time-course of chemical (drugs, pesticides, environmental contaminants and toxins) depletion in the tissues and products of animals. FARAD is also sanctioned to provide these estimates to the United States Pharmacopeia-Drug Information (USP-DI) Veterinary Medicine Advisory Committee. As a cooperative multi-state program, FARAD is available nationwide to offer advice about residue avoidance.
Where to Call FARAD
FARAD expert-mediated assistance is available from two Regional Access Centers that can be accessed by this single toll-free telephone number:
WESTERN REGIONAL ACCESS CENTER
EASTERN REGIONAL ACCESS CENTER
When to Call FARAD
Anyone who has a question about how to prevent residues in animal-derived foods is encouraged to call FARAD for assistance. Food animal veterinarians and Extension specialists are currently the major users of FARAD information. The FARAD Regional Access Centers operate during normal business hours. Most questions can be answered immediately; however, complex response may require a couple of days.
For more information, please visit FARAD’s web site at http://www.farad.org.


The Keglacian culture thrived in the mountainous regions of Jorvyll north of the Evesque Valley. Their skill in stone working and stonemasonry was most likely put to use in the building of the Baleman. The majority of the Keglacians fled South to the Valley in the wake of the Earthquake of Fluyr in -75 EC.
With them they brought their songs, epic poetry, and sports including hoopkah. While much of the poems and old songs of the Keglacians have melted into the collective culture, hoopkah has made a distinctive mark and is becoming more popular with every passing year.
Variations of this Keglacian sport are also known as choopkah (team play) or hoopspootch (a simplified version for children). Professional hoopkah teams wherein a Hive-Coach and his four or five player team compete in a series of matches against local rival teams are popular events often drawing huge crowds of common folk who treat such matches as huge social gatherings complete with food and drinks.
While the stonemason origins of the Keglacians are now mostly destroyed, it would seem that this simple pastime will remain their gift to world culture.
--Dr. H.L. Ackroyd 18:57, 27 Nov 2004 (EST)


Started conversation May 4, 2004
It's incorrect to say that "gyratory system" is just the name for a roundabout that has got too big for its boots. In fact it's the original term which was soon displaced when they became common.
I'm not sure if the term "gyratory circus" was ever really used. There are a number of junctions in London known as circuses after the circular range of buildings around them. This was a particularly 18th century fashion, so of course the most famously beautiful one is in Bath.
The OED says of "gyratory":
Applied to a system of directing road traffic round a roundabout or through a system of one-way streets to avoid the need for one line of traffic to intersect another.
1909 Westm. Gaz. 7 Aug. 4/2 The gyratory principle, by which vehicles are directed into circular lines ingeniously devised to avoid intersection. 1926 Rep. Comm. Police Metropolis, 1925 16 in Parl. Papers (Cmd. 2660) XV. 239 Gyratory systems for the circulation of traffic, after years of discussion, reached the point of practical demonstration this year. 1928 Observer 5 Feb. 13/7 Now that every week dedicates a new bunch of streets to the Gyratory System. 1966 Guardian 8 Sept. 5/4 A new gyratory road system to ease traffic congestion..is to be built..at Stretford.
And of "roundabout":
A junction at which traffic moves one way round a central island. Cf. RONDPOINT b, ROTARY n. 3.
1927 Glasgow Herald 3 Jan. 7/2 There is only one draw~back to the roundabout, and that is the inconvenience caused to pedestrians. 1937 Times 13 Apr. (British Motor No.) p. viii/1 Roundabouts..have the advantage of keeping vehicles on the move. 1947 Daily Mail 22 May 3/4 Removal of the Mansion House to make room for a big round-about. 1955 Times 2 Aug. 9/7 Makeshift tactics are particularly evident in the proposed treatment at Hyde Park Corner which includes an extremely complicated roundabout. 1967 Listener 28 Sept. 398/1 People make only occasional use of their speedometer..on such critical occasions as the approach to roundabouts. 1977 Belfast Tel. 14 Feb. 5/9, 12 shots were fired at an armoured police vehicle near the roundabout at Narrow~water Castle.
And of "circus":
A circular range of houses. Also, a traffic roundabout. Often in proper names as Oxford Circus, Regent Circus.
1714 POPE Rape Lock IV. 117 Sooner shall Grass in Hide-Park Circus grow. 1766 ANSTEY Bath Guide II. ix. 57 To breathe a purer Air In the Circus or the Square. 1771 SMOLLETT Humph. Cl. 23 Apr., The same artist who planned the Circus has likewise projected a crescent [at Bath]. Ibid. The Circus is a pretty bauble..and looks like Vespasian's amphitheatre turned outside in. 1794 Looker-on No. 89 The squares and circuses are no longer the only scenes of dignified dissipation. 1898 Tit-Bits 15 Jan. 300/3 Bridges, of light and tasty design, across all the main thoroughfares, and at the various ‘circuses’ and cross roads.
Posted Sep 2, 2004
I'm a little confused. The definitions you gave seem to support the idea that there *is* a difference between a roundabout and a gyratory.
Those definitions say that a roundabout is a junction, while a gyratory is a particular kind of one way system.
Of course a roundabout could be viewed as a very small one way system, so you could argue that all roundabouts are gyratories. But not all gyratories are really roundabouts according to the definitions you produced. (Specifically, a gyratory consisting of more than one junction is, by definition, not a roundabout.)
But in practice, isn't the common usage pretty much as I suggested? I'm only actually aware of two road systems commonly referred to as gyratories - one is the subject of this article, and the other is in Reading. And both of them are distinctly on the large side. In particular, they both have multiple junctions.
So the common usage of the word seems to be to describe overgrown roundabouts (and more specifically, multi-junction ones) in practice.
Can you point to any counterexamples in real use? I'm just going on the gyratories I know - I've not done any exhaustive research on gryatories across the nation.
Posted Aug 12, 2005
There is a gyratory system at Park Gate near Southampton that consists of a pair of roundabouts connected by a pair of one way carriage ways.
Posted Aug 12, 2005
I have to correct my previous entry because, while I have heard it called the Park Gate gyratory system, it is not recorded as a gyratory system on Hampshire's register of adopted roads. It is recorded as the following separate components... Botley Road roundabout, the Bridge Road dual carriageway and the Brook Lane roundabout.
However, I find there is a gyratory system just east of Park Gate on the A27 at Titchfield and this is a large roundabout with traffic lights and many junctions.
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A notch or groove cut into a piece of material to allow two sections to be combined with a flush joint.
A woodcutting tool used to cut an L-shaped groove into a piece of material. see also Rabbet
A strong current in a stream or river.
1. An enclosed metal channel, usually fire-resistant, installed in a building to hold electrical wiring.
2. A chute that directs the flow of a material to a specific location in a device.
A channel holding electrical wiring that is designed to look like a piece of decorative trim or molding.
A channel holding electrical wiring designed to be installed on a floor. The unit has a low profile and sloping edges to facilitate walking over it.
The illegal practice of directing certain races away from some neighborhoods and into others.
1. A storage unit designed to hold various objects.
2. To cause a structure to shift so that it is out of plumb.
1. A force that causes a structure to shift so that it is out of plumb.
2. Installation of bricks or other masonry units so that each course is stepped back from the previous one.
Straight-line outward movement from a circle's center.
A power saw with a circular blade that is mounted on a moveable arm. The arm is lowered or raised to move the cutting blade to or away from the material to be cut.
A drill press with a moveable arm that can be swung to various positions on the work table.
An HVAC system with ductwork running outward from a central heating and/or cooling unit.
The surface of a log cut down the center.
Heating system where electrical or hot-water heating elements are installed in a concrete slab floor.
see Radiant heating
Use of radiation to generate heat such as with baseboard heating where the circulating hot water is radiated through conduction by thin metal fins at the bottom of the wall. The room is warmed by air circulating around the heating unit using convention.
Heating unit that is exposed and which transfers heat generated by hot eater or steam through conduction. When the air circulates around the radiator using convention, the room is heated.
The distance from the center of a circle to the circumference. One-half of the diameter of a circle.
A tool used for checking the radii of convex and concave surfaces.
Radioactive gas that seeps into some homes, from the ground, through sump pumps, cracks in the foundation, etc., it is considered a health hazard.
Any of the beams that slope from the ridge of a roof to the eaves to serve as support for the roof.
A metal fastener attached to the top plate of a wall to hold a rafter.
A rafter parallel to the gable end that projects out to form an overhang.
The end of a rafter extending beyond the line of a building's walls.
A guide used when cutting rafters.
The top plate of a building's walls. The rafters rest on the rafter plate.
The vertical cut made into a rafter so it will rest on the wall plate. see also Rafter Seat Cut
The horizontal cut made into a rafter so it will rest on the wall plate. see also Rafter Plumb Cut
Cutting a section off of the end of a rafter equal to one-half of the thickness of the ridge board (the rafter on the other side of the ridge board receives a similar cut).
Tables, often printed on a framing square, containing the data required to calculate angles and lengths of rafters for various roof types.
see Rafter Overhang
A horizontal structure used as a handhold or to block off a drop or other unsafe area.
1. Continuous metal bars on which wheeled vehicles travel (i.e. railroads).
2. The horizontal sections of a panel door.
3. The top and bottom sections of a window sash.
Waterproof cap, also called weatherheads, mast heads or entrance caps, which is placed at the upper part of an electrical mast at the point where the wires are run to the inside electrical meter. Wires hang from the pole to the entrance cap so that the entrance cap is not the low point in the downhill run from the pole because water will run to the low point before dripping to the ground. Wires enter the entrance cap at an upward angle through a tight insulator. Water is further stopped from getting through the entrance cap because of this entrance angle.
Wood where the fibers have swelled, usually because of becoming wet. Wood is often sanded with the grain raised to achieve an extremely smooth finished surface.
1. A fork-like tool used for gathering materials (i.e. leaves) or smoothing an area of soil.
2. A roof overhang on a building's gable end.
3. An angle between objects.
A masonry joint where a portion of mortar has been removed, creating a groove between masonry units. A raked joint if often used in brickwork.
Mortgage, most commonly used by the elderly who have substantial equity in their homes. A periodic payment is made to the borrower from the lender thus, increasing the loan balance, causing negative amortization.
A hydraulically powered piston used for driving a weight.
A sloping surface used to move from one elevation to another.


Jhansi city is located in central India, in Uttar Pradesh
State. Situated between the rivers Pahunj and Betwa
, the city is a symbol of bravery, courage and self respect. In ancient times Jhansi was a part of the regions Chedi Rashtra, Jejak Bhukit, Jajhoti and
. It is most famous as the land of
Rani Lakshmi Bai
, the brave woman-ruler of Jhansi, who fought the British.
Today it is a center of trade and industries including railway workshops and iron and steel mills. There are many manufacturing units of brassware, rugs, rubber, and silk goods. The city developed around a fort built in 1613 and strengthened in 1742. It was the scene of a massacre of British residents in 1857 during the Sepoy Rebellion. The total population exceeds three hundred thousand.
The Jhansi festival is a major cultural event here. The seventeenth century Jhansi Fort is a major tourist attraction. Jhansi has its own railhead which links the city to major nearby destinations.


Bills create, amend, or repeal law. To become law, a bill must pass the House of Representatives and the Senate by a majority vote of the members-elect in each house. Bills may be introduced by members of the Legislative Assembly, standing committees, or the Legislative Management. A state executive agency or the North Dakota Supreme Court can have bills automatically introduced in the name of the standing committee to which the bill will be referred. House bills begin with the number 1001, and Senate bills begin with the number 2001. The Constitution of North Dakota (Article IV, Section 13) provides that bills adopted by the Legislative Assembly generally take effect August 1 after filing with the Secretary of State. However, certain appropriations and tax measures become effective July 1. The effective date may be later if specifically written into a bill. The effective date may be earlier if the Legislative Assembly declares an “emergency” and the measure receives a two-thirds vote of the members-elect in each house.
Resolutions propose constitutional amendments, express opinions, request actions, congratulate, or console. Resolutions do not have the effect of law. Resolutions are the vehicles used to propose constitutional amendments for voter consideration. Resolutions are used to request an interim study by the Legislative Management on a specific subject. Resolutions frequently express legislative opinion to Congress or other federal offices with regard to federal programs or policies. House concurrent resolutions begin with the number 3001, and Senate concurrent resolutions begin with the number 4001. Concurrent means that a particular resolution must be approved by both the House and Senate. The House or Senate may use resolutions for their own separate business such as memorial resolutions for deceased members, e.g., House Memorial Resolution 7001 and Senate Memorial Resolution 8001.
Session Laws (the popular name for Laws of North Dakota)
Session Laws contain the text of all measures enacted (bills) or adopted (resolutions) by a particular Legislative Assembly. Session Laws also include:
- Constitutional amendments proposed by the Legislative Assembly. Vote totals are provided for those “approved” or “disapproved” since publication of the preceding Session Laws.
- Initiated laws or constitutional amendments and referred bills submitted to voters since publication of the preceding Session Laws (includes vote totals).
- Governor’s veto messages.
- Lists of House and Senate members.
- A statewide legislative district map.
Recent Session Laws are online at: http://www.legis.nd.gov.
Statutes provide written organized law. Since becoming a state in 1889, North Dakota law has been codified as the:
- Revised Codes of 1895.
- Revised Codes of 1899.
- Revised Codes of 1905.
- Compiled Laws of North Dakota 1913, with 1925 supplement.
- North Dakota Revised Code of 1943 with 1947, 1949, 1953, and 1957 supplements.
- North Dakota Century Code.
The North Dakota Century Code is the codification of general and permanent law. The Century Code was published between 1959 and 1960 and was named to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the establishment of Dakota Territory in 1861.
The Century Code is arranged systematically under broad titles such as Title 23 – Health and Safety, Title 39 – Motor Vehicles, Title 54 – State Government, and Title 65 – Workers Compensation. Laws with specific expiration dates usually are not codified in the Century Code. Following each Legislative Assembly, the Century Code is updated to reflect changes. Volumes are either reprinted or supplemented with a pocket part. Volume 13 of the Century Code contains the United States and the North Dakota Constitutions as well as other historic documents, including the Magna Carta, Articles of Confederation, and Declaration of Independence.
The Century Code is available online at www.legis.nd.gov.
How to Testify Before a North Dakota Legislative Committee
You have the right...
You have the right, as do all citizens, to testify before the North Dakota Legislative Assembly on any bill or resolution.
North Dakota has one of the most open legislatures in the nation. Every bill must have a public hearing before a legislative committee, must be publicly voted upon by the committee, and then must come before the full House or Senate for still another public vote.
Your opportunity to testify on a bill comes at the committee hearing.
Legislative committees meet in rooms on the ground floor or in the legislative wing of the State Capitol. You can come into a committee meeting at any time, even if the door is closed or a hearing is in progress.
Lists of the legislative committees, committee members, and the days and places committees meet are available on this website and at the legislative information kiosk in the hall between the Senate and House chambers. Committee hearing schedules are available on this website and can be viewed on the monitors by the information kiosk and in the hall of the ground floor at the Capitol.
Most current versions of bills and amendments are available on this website. You can also get copies of bills from the Bill and Journal Room. However, if the bill has been amended, the printed bill may not include the amendments.
Hearings Before North Dakota Legislative Committees Are Generally Informal and Few Rules Need Be Observed!
Before the Hearing You Should...
- Find out when and where your bill will be heard. Be on time for the hearing. Usually, once a hearing is closed on a particular bill, no further testimony is heard.
- Plan your testimony. It is not necessary, but it is helpful, to have written copies of your comments available.
- See if other persons will be testifying on your bill. If so, try to coordinate your testimony before the hearing to avoid duplication.
- Contact the Secretary of State's office if you are going to testify on behalf of anyone but yourself to see if you must register as a lobbyist.
At the Hearing You Should...
- Be present at the start of the hearing. All persons present usually get a chance to speak, but sometimes because of large turnouts it is not possible to give everyone a chance to speak. If you do not get a chance to testify, your presence may be acknowledged and you might be asked if you favor or oppose the bill. Also, you can always submit written testimony.
- Sign the witness sheet at the lectern. Give the bill number, whether you favor or oppose the bill, your name, your lobbyist registration number if you have one, and who you represent if other than yourself.
- Wait your turn. The chairman announces the beginning of the hearing on a particular bill. The clerk will read the bill. The first speaker is usually the bill's sponsor. The chairman then asks for testimony first from proponents and then opponents.
- Plan on following the custom (although it is not absolutely necessary) of beginning your remarks by addressing the chairman and committee members, giving your name and address, and why you are there. For example: "Mr. or Madam Chairman and members of the committee, my name is John Q. Public from Edwinton. I'm in favor of this bill because, etc."
- Be brief. Do not repeat what others have said. The hearings are informal so be conversational. Avoid being too technical. Avoid using acronyms or technical references unless you first explain what they mean.
- Do not be nervous or worried about doing something wrong. There are no "rights and wrongs" about testifying. Legislators are just your friends and neighbors who want to hear what you have to say.
- Expect some questions and comments from committee members. These questions are not designed to embarrass you but merely to provide additional information.
- Avoid any clapping, cheering, booing, or other demonstrations.
After the Hearing...
- Some committees vote right after a hearing. Others wait until the end of the meeting. Some postpone voting until another meeting.
- All committee action is public so you can stay to listen to committee debate and its vote even though the public comment portion of the hearing is over.
- One or two days later you can check with the committee clerk, your legislator, or the legislative information kiosk to find out how the committee voted on your bill.
You have a right to testify on any bill before a legislative committee. Legislators want to hear what you have to say.
State law (North Dakota Century Code Chapter 54-05.1) requires most persons to register as lobbyists if they (1) attempt to secure the passage, amendment, or defeat of any legislation by the Legislative Assembly or the approval or veto of any legislation by the Governor; or (2) attempt to influence decisions made by the Legislative Management or by an interim committee of the Legislative Management.
The North Dakota Secretary of State administers the lobbyist registration law. Information on lobbyist registration is available from the Secretary of State.


There’s a course at Yale University in which undergraduates travel to the Amazon rain forest to collect fungi.
The fungus samples are often nothing you’ve encountered. One of them, however, which will be featured in a paper accepted by a scientific journal, might solve the problem of polyurethane building up in our landfills. The fungus basically eats the plastic and breaks it down into carbon.
That’s just one discovery being studied in the Rainforest Expedition and Laboratory course taught by professor Scott A. Strobel.
“We take 15 undergraduates into the Ecuadorean rain forest and collect plant samples,” said Kaury Kucera, co-instructor of the course and a postdoctoral researcher in the department of molecular biophysics and biochemistry.
The fungus they’re looking for “grows in the inner tissues of plant samples that is symbiotic with the plant and often produces natural compounds that are interesting to medicine,” Kucera said.
Click "source" for entire article.


Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.--George Santayana
At the HNI Shareholders meeting, President and CEO, Stan Askren, made a point to tell shareholders that the past does not predict the future. There are always unforeseen events that are random or exogenous that lie outside the realm of normal that alter the future. For example, who could foresee the credit crisis and the mortgage mess.
What’s wrong with looking at history and making an inference about the future? Bestselling author, Nicholas Taleb, points out that history suffers from a problem of induction that he calls the Black Swan. When one moves from specific examples to general conclusions, there’s always a problem that a random event can alter the expected outcome. Looking at history provides comfort because it rules out randomness. It’s like a brain suave for those who are afraid of risk.
In fact, economists say that one should not let sunk costs determine future decisions. What happened in the past should be irrelevant to future decisions.
There’s another problem when using history as a guide in teaching economics. The problem lies in the brain’s tendency to find patterns in past events and think that one should have predicted the events that followed given these past events. This is what Taleb calls the post hoc narrative fallacy. In other words, hindsight is 20/20.
So when economics is taught in the history department, there’s tendency to teach it with a post hoc narrative and tendency to use induction. For these two reasons alone, economics should be taught in the business department.


Source Newsroom: University of Alabama Huntsville
Newswise — Dr. Michael Briggs, a member of NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) team at The University of Alabama in Huntsville today announced that the GBM telescope has detected beams of antimatter produced above thunderstorms on Earth by energetic processes similar to those found in particle accelerators.
"These signals are the first direct evidence that thunderstorms make antimatter particle beams," said Michael Briggs, a university researcher whose team, located at UAHuntsville, includes scientists from NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Max-Planck Institute in Garching, Germany, and from around the world. He presented the findings during a news briefing at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Seattle.
Scientists think the antimatter particles are formed in a terrestrial gamma-ray flash (TGF), a brief burst produced inside thunderstorms that has a relationship to lighting that is not fully understood. As many as 500 TGFs may occur daily worldwide, but most go undetected.
The spacecraft, known as Fermi, is designed to observe gamma-ray sources in space, emitters of the highest energy form of light. Fermi’s GBM constantly monitors the entire celestial sky, with sensors observing in all directions, including some toward the Earth, thereby providing valuable insight into this strange phenomenon.
When the antimatter produced in a terrestrial thunderstorm collides with normal matter, such as the spacecraft itself, both the matter and antimatter particles immediately are annihilated and transformed into gamma-rays observed by the GBM sensors. The detection of gamma-rays with energies of a particular energy -- 511,000 electron volts -- is the smoking-gun, indicating that the source of the observed gamma-rays in these events is the annihilation of an electron with its antimatter counterpart, a positron, produced in the TGF.
Since the spacecraft’s launch in 2008, the GBM team has identified 130 TGFs, which are usually accompanied by thunderstorms located directly below the spacecraft at the time of detection. However, in four cases, storms were a far distance from Fermi. Lightning-generated radio signals, detected by a global monitoring network, indicated the only lightning at the time of these events was hundreds or more miles away.
During one TGF, which occurred on December 14, 2009, Fermi was located over Egypt. However, the active storm was in Zambia, some 2,800 miles to the south. The distant storm was below Fermi’s horizon, so any gamma-rays it produced could not have been detected directly. Although Fermi could not see the storm from its position in orbit, it was still connected to it through sharing of a common magnetic field line of the Earth, which could be followed by the high-speed electrons and positrons produced by the TGF. These particles travelled up along the Earth’s magnetic field lines and struck the spacecraft. The beam continued past Fermi along the magnetic field, to a location known as a mirror point, where its motion was reversed, and then 23 milliseconds later, hit the spacecraft again. Each time, positrons in the beam collided with electrons in the spacecraft, annihilating each other, and emitting gamma-rays detected by Fermi’s GBM.
NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is an astrophysics and particle physics partnership. The spacecraft is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The GBM instrument is a collaboration between scientists at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and the Max-Planck Institute in Garching, Germany. The Fermi mission was developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, with important contributions from academic institutions and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden and the United States.


The IDLgrTessellator class is a helper class that converts a simple concave polygon (or a simple polygon with holes) into a number of simple convex polygons (general triangles). A polygon is simple if it includes no duplicate vertices, if the edges intersect only at vertices, and exactly two edges meet at any vertex.
Tessellation is useful because the IDLgrPolygon object accepts only convex polygons. Using the IDLgrTessellator object, you can convert a concave polygon into a group of convex polygons.
The IDLgrTessellator::Init method takes no arguments. Use the following statement to create a tessellator object:
myTess = OBJ_NEW('IDLgrTessellator')
See IDLgrTessellator for details on creating tessellator objects.
The procedure file
obj_tess.pro, located in the
examples/visual subdirectory of the IDL distribution, provides an example of the use of the IDLgrTessellator object. To run the example, enter OBJ_TESS at the IDL prompt. The procedure creates a concave polygon, attempts to draw it, and then tessellates the polygon and re-draws. Finally, the procedure demonstrates adding a hole to a polygon. (You will be prompted to press Return after each step is displayed.) You can also inspect the source code in the
obj_tess.pro file for hints on using the tessellator object.


"Many environmentalists believe that wind and solar power can be scaled to meet the rising demand [of billions emerging from poverty], especially if coupled with aggressive efforts to cut waste," reports Justin Gillis. "But a lot of energy analysts have crunched the numbers and concluded that today’s renewables, important as they are, cannot get us even halfway there."
Gillis discusses the most promising innovations in nuclear power, which many technologists see as the most viable option for providing a reliable source of electricity without carbon emissions. These include "a practicable type of nuclear fusion", "a fission reactor that could run on today’s nuclear waste", and "a safer reactor based on an abundant element called thorium."
"Beyond the question of whether they will work," he adds, "these ambitious schemes pose a larger issue: How much faith should we, as a society, put in the idea of a big technological fix to save the world from climate change?"
And as is appropriate for a nuclear-related news item that appeared on the two-year anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake, we offer a reminder of the twelve different nuclear power "near miss" events that occurred in the United States in 2012.


Archeologists, during an ongoing excavation, have unearthed two ancient theater masks belonging to Roman period in southeastern Turkish province of Mardin.
An archaeological team conducted by the Museum of Mardin in Ilisu Dam excavated the masks revealed to be made of bronze and iron.
The experts suggest that the masks belong to a travelling theater group, which came to Mardin at the time of Roman Empire about 2300 years ago.
"It is revealed that this historical artifact from Roman Empire have been brought to Mardin by the travelling theaters as there has been no theater here at that time. This travelling theater is presumed to come from west to east," said Mardin Culture and Tourism Director Davut Beliktay.
Many other relics have been uncovered during the excavation, though they are less important than the masks as rare ancient treasure in Turkey, Beliktay added.
The newly found artifacts have an historical importance to Mardin, as they confirm the city’s rich history, said the Director of Mardin Museum, Nihat Erdogan.
The masks were immediately taken for restoration in a laboratory in the Museum of Mardin. When the restoration comes to end, they are programmed to be protected at the museum.


The Bhopal disaster
was an industrial disaster
that occurred in the city of Bhopal
, Madhya Pradesh
, resulting in the immediate deaths of more than 3,000 people, according to the Indian Supreme Court. A more probable figure is that 8,000 died within two weeks, and it is estimated that the same number have since died from gas related diseases.
The incident took place in the early hours of the morning of December 3, 1984, in the heart of the city of Bhopal in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. A Union Carbide subsidiary pesticide plant released 43 tonnes of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas, exposing at least 520,000 people to toxic gases. The Bhopal disaster is frequently cited as the world's worst industrial disaster. The International Medical Commission on Bhopal was established in 1993 to respond to the disasters.
Background and causes, summary
The Union Carbide India, Limited
(UCIL) plant was established in 1969. 51% was owned by Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) and 49% by Indian authorities. It produced the pesticide carbaryl
(trade mark Sevin). Methyl isocyanate
(MIC), an intermediate in carbaryl manufacture, was used instead of less toxic but more expensive materials. In 1979, a plant for producing MIC was added. UCC was responsible for all technique and design. The plant was located close to a densely populated area, instead of on the other side of the town where UCIL was offered an area. MIC was stored in a few large tanks instead of several small tanks.
During the night of December 3rd 1984, large amounts of water entered tank 610, containing 43 tonnes of methyl isocyanate. The resulting reaction generated a major increase in the temperature of liquid inside the tank to over 400°F (200°C). The MIC holding tank then gave off a large volume of toxic gas, forcing the emergency release of pressure. The reaction was sped up by the presence of iron from corroding non-stainless steel pipelines.
There have been several theories on the reason for the entry of water into the tank. The workers claim that, because of the bad maintenance with leaking valves etc, it was possible for the water to climb from the point where the pipeline washing was performed to tank 610. UCC maintains that this was not possible, and that it was an act of sabotage by a "disgruntled worker" who introduced water directly into the tank. There is much confusion because the Indian government closed the plant to outsiders and would not allow interviews with the plant employees for almost a year. Much speculation arose in the meantime and much of it was not scientifically based, but based on worker accounts which may or may not have been accurate.
The deciding factors that caused the outcome were the state of the art plant design (location near a densely populated area, using hazardous chemicals instead of less dangerous, storing in large tanks, possible corroding material in pipelines etc), and the decision to close the plant which began a shut down which contributed to poor oversight by local managers (poor oversight of operators, safety systems not functioning etc), and in the aftermath, negligence on the part of the governments of India and Madhya Pradesh as well as UCC.
- The deficiencies in the Bhopal plant design can be summarised as: choosing a dangerous method of manufacturing pesticides; large-scale storage of MIC prior to selling; location close to a densely populated area; under-dimensioning of the safety features; dependence on manual operations..
- Deficiencies in the management of UCIL can be summarised: lack of skilled operators because of the staffing policy; reduction of safety management because of reducing the staff; insufficient maintenance of the plant; lack of emergency response plans.
A long-term cause of the catastrophe was the location of the plant; authorities had tried and failed to persuade Carbide to build the plant away from densely-populated areas. Carbide explained their refusal on the expense that such a move would incur.
Plant production process
Union Carbide produced their pesticide, Sevin (the name of carbaryl
), using MIC as an intermediate. Until 1979, MIC was imported from USA. Other manufacturers, such as Bayer
, made Sevin without MIC, though at greater manufacturing costs.
The Bhopal route was to react methyl amine with phosgene (also a deadly gas & chemical warfare agent) to form MIC, the MIC was then reacted with 1-naphthol to form the final product. This route is different to the MIC free route used elsewhere with the same raw materials in a different manufacturing order: phosgene is reacted with the naphthol first to form a chloroformate ester which is then reacted with methyl amine.
It seems as at least some of the techniques were more or less unproven.
In the early 1980s, the demand for pesticides had fallen though production continued leading to buildup of stores of unused MIC.
Attempts to reduce expenses affected the factory’s employees and their conditions.
- Kurzman argues that “cuts... meant less stringent quality control and thus looser safety rules. A pipe leaked? Don’t replace it, employees said they were told... MIC workers needed more training? They could do with less. Promotions were halted, seriously affecting employee morale and driving some of the most skilled... elsewhere”.
- Workers were forced to use English manuals, despite the fact that only a few had a grasp of the language.
- By 1984, only six of the original twelve operators were still working with MIC and the number of supervisory personnel was also cut in half. No maintenance supervisor was placed on the night shift and instrument readings were taken every two hours, rather than the previous and required one-hour readings.
- Workers made complaints about the cuts through their union but were ignored. One employee was fired after going on a 15-day hunger strike. 70% of the plant’s employees were fined before the disaster for refusing to deviate from the proper safety regulations under pressure from management.
- In addition, some observers, such as those writing in the Trade Environmental Database (TED) Case Studies as part of the Mandala Project from American University, have pointed to “serious communication problems and management gaps between Union Carbide and its Indian operation”, characterised by “the parent companies [sic] hands-off approach to its overseas operation” and “cross-cultural barriers”.
- The personnel management policy led to an exodus of skilled personnel to better and safer jobs.
Equipment and safety regulations
- It emerged in 1998, during civil action suits in India, that, unlike Union Carbide plants in the USA, its Indian subsidiary plants were not prepared for problems. No action plans had been established to cope with incidents of this magnitude. This included not informing local authorities of the quantities or dangers of chemicals used and manufactured at Bhopal.
- The MIC tank’s alarms had not worked for 4 years.
- There was only one manual back-up system, not the four-stage system used in the USA.
- The flare tower and the vent gas scrubber had been out of service for 5 months before the disaster. The gas scrubber therefore did not treat escaping gases with sodium hydroxide (caustic soda), which may have brought the concentration down to a safe level. Even if the scrubber had been working, according to Weir, investigations in the aftermath of the disaster discovered that the maximum pressure it could handle was only one-quarter of that which was present in the accident. Furthermore, the flare tower itself was improperly designed and could only hold one-quarter of the volume of gas that was leaked in 1984.
- To reduce energy costs, the refrigeration system, designed to inhibit the volatilization of MIC, had been left idle – the MIC was kept at 20 degrees Celsius, not the 4.5 degrees advised by the manual, and some of the coolant was being used elsewhere.
- The steam boiler, intended to clean the pipes, was out of action for unknown reasons.
- Slip-blind plates that would have prevented water from pipes being cleaned from leaking into the MIC tanks via faulty valves were not installed. Their installation had been omitted from the cleaning checklist.
- Water sprays designed to “knock down” gas leaks were poorly designed – set to 13 metres and below, they could not spray high enough to reduce the concentration of escaping gas.
- The MIC tank had been malfunctioning for roughly a week. Other tanks had been used for that week, rather than repairing the broken one, which was left to “stew”. The build-up in temperature and pressure is believed to have affected the explosion and its intensity.
- Carbon-steel valves were used at the factory, despite the fact that they corrode when exposed to acid. On the night of the disaster, a leaking carbon-steel valve was found, allowing water to enter the MIC tanks. The pipe was not repaired because it was believed it would take too much time and be too expensive.
- Themistocles D'Silva contends that the design of the MIC plant, following government guidelines, was "Indianized" by UCIL engineers to maximize the use of indigenous materials and products. It also dispensed with the use of sophisticated instrumentation as not appropriate for the Indian plant. Because of the unavailability of electronic parts in India, the Indian engineers preferred pneumatic instrumentation.
Previous warnings and accidents
A series of prior warnings and MIC-related accidents had been ignored:
- In 1976, the two trade unions reacted because of pollution within the plant.
- In 1981, a worker was splashed with phosgene. In panic he ripped off his mask, thus inhaling a large amount of phosgene gas; he died 72 hours later.
- In January 1982, there was a phosgene leak, when 24 workers were exposed and had to be admitted to hospital. None of the workers had been ordered to wear protective masks.
- In February 1982, an MIC leak affected 18 workers.
- In August 1982, a chemical engineer came into contact with liquid MIC, resulting in burns over 30 percent of his body.
- In October 1982, there was a leak of MIC, methylcarbaryl chloride, chloroform and hydrochloric acid. In attempting to stop the leak, the MIC supervisor suffered intensive chemical burns and two other workers were severely exposed to the gases.
- During 1983 and 1984, leaks of the following substances regularly took place in the MIC plant: MIC, chlorine, monomethylamine, phosgene, and carbon tetrachloride, sometimes in combination.
- Reports issued months before the incident by scientists within the Union Carbide corporation warned of the possibility of an accident almost identical to that which occurred in Bhopal. The reports were ignored and never reached senior staff.
- Union Carbide was warned by American experts who visited the plant after 1981 of the potential of a “runaway reaction” in the MIC storage tank; local Indian authorities warned the company of problems on several occasions from 1979 onwards. Again, these warnings were not heeded.
- In November 1984, most of the safety systems were not functioning. Many valves and lines were in poor condition. Tank 610 contained 43 tonnes MIC, much more than allowed according to safety rules.
- During the nights of 2-3 December, large amounts of water entered tank 610. A run-away reaction started, which was accelerated by contaminants, high temperatures and other factors. The reaction generated a major increase in the temperature of liquid inside the tank to over 200°C (400°F). The MIC holding tank then gave off a large volume of toxic gases, forcing the emergency release of pressure. The reaction was sped up by the presence of iron from corroding non-stainless steel pipelines.
- We know that workers cleaned pipelines with water. They were not told by the supervisor to add a slip-blind water isolation plate. Because of this, and of the bad maintenance, the workers consider it possible for water to enter the MIC tank.
- UCC maintains that a "disgruntled worker" deliberately connected a hose to a pressure gauge. However, this would hardly have been possible if the safety rules had been followed.
Time line, summary
At the plant
- 21.00 Water cleaning of pipes start.
- 22.00 Water enters 610. Reaction starts.
- 22.30 Gases are coming out from the VGS-tower.
- 00.30 The large siren sounds and is turned off.
- 00.50 The siren is heard within the plant area. The workers escape.
- 22.30 First sensations felt. Suffocation, cough, eyes, vomiting.
- 1.00 Police alerted. People escaped. UC-director denied a possible leak.
- 2.00 The first people reached Hamidia hospital. Half blind, gasping for air, frothing at the mouth, vomiting.
- 2.10 The alarm was heard outside the plant.
- 4.00 The gases were reduced.
- 6.00 The police's loudspeaker said: "Everything is normal".
- Morning: Thousands of dead bodies and hundreds of dead cattle lying on the streets.
Apart from MIC the gas cloud may have contained phosgene
, hydrogen cyanide
, carbon monoxide
, hydrogen chloride
, nitrous oxides
, monomethyl amine
(MMA) and carbon dioxide
, either produced in the storage tank or in the atmosphere. All these gases, except carbon dioxide, are acutely toxic at levels well below 500 ppm
The gas cloud, composed mainly of materials more dense than the surrounding air, stayed close to the ground and spread outwards through the surrounding community. The initial effects of gas exposure were coughing, vomiting, severe eye irritation and a feeling of suffocation. People awoken by these symptoms fled away from the plant. Those who ran inhaled more than those who had a vehicle. Due to their height, children and other people of lower stature inhaled relatively higher concentrations. Many people were trampled trying to escape.
Thousands of people had succumbed to gas exposure by the morning hours. There were mass funerals and mass cremations as well as bodies being disposed of in the Narmada river. 170,000 people were treated at hospitals and temporary dispensaries. 2,000 buffaloes, goats, and other animals had to be collected and buried. Within a few days, leaves on trees went yellow and fell off. Supplies including food became scarce due to safety fears by the suppliers. Fishing was prohibited as well which caused further supply shortages. .
A total of 36 wards were marked by the authorities as being "gas affected", affecting a population of 520,000. In 1991, 3,928 deaths had been certified. Independent organizations recorded 8,000 dead the first days. Other estimations vary between 10,000 and 20,000. Another 100,000 to 200,000 people are estimated to have been injured.
The majority of deaths and serious injuries were related to pulmonary edema, but the gas caused a wide variety of other ailments. Signs and symptoms of methyl isocyanate exposure include coughing, dyspnea, chest pain, lacrimation, eyelid edema, and unconsciousness. These effects tend to progress over 24 to 72 hours following exposure to include acute lung injury, cardiac arrest, and death.
Long term health effects
The quality of the epidemiological and clinical research varies. Reported and studied symptoms are eye problems, respiratory difficulties, immune and neurological disorders, cardiac failure secondary to lung injury, female reproductive difficulties, and birth defects among children born to affected women. Other symptoms and diseases are often ascribed to the gas exposure, but there is no good research supporting this.. For a review of the research on the health effects of the Bhopal disaster (Dhara & Dhara, 2002), see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12641179.
Aftermath of the leakage
- The doctors and the staff were completely taken by surprise as thousands and thousands of survivors entered the gates.
- Doctors and hospitals were not informed of proper treatment methods for MIC gas inhalation. They were told to simply give cough medicine and eye-drops to their patients.
- The gases immediately caused visible damage to the trees. Within a few days, all the leavsfelof.
- 2,000 bloated animal carcasses had to be taken care of.
- "Operation Faith" On december 16, the tanks 611 and 619 shoud be emptied of the remains of MIC. This led to a second mass evacuation from Bhopal.
- Complaints of a lack of information or misinformation were legion. Not even the medical doctor of the Bhopal plant had proper information about the properties of the gases. An Indian Government spokesman said that "Carbide is more interested in getting information from us than in helping our relief work."
- Up to today, UCC has not released information about the possible composition of the cloud.
- Formal statements were issued that air, water, vegetation and foodstuffs were safe everywhere in the city. At the same time, television features informed people that poultry was unaffected, but warned people not to consume fish, etc.
- The survivors lost their economic standard, lost health and gained worries about the future. Much time was spent at hospitals and clinics. The expences fore medicines could sometimes esceed expenses on food. It was difficult for girls to get married.
- Bhopal was invaded by American lawyers, radical groups and health personnel. Sometimes there was conflicts with the police.
Union Carbide’s defense
Now owned by Dow Chemical Company
, Union Carbide denies allegations against it on its website dedicated to the tragedy. The corporation believes that the accident was the result of sabotage, stating that safety systems were in place and operative. It also stresses that it did all it could to alleviate human suffering following the disaster.
Investigation into possible sabotage
The company cites an investigation conducted by the engineering consulting firm Arthur D. Little
, which concluded that a single employee secretly and deliberately introduced a large amount of water into the MIC tank by removing a meter and connecting a water hose directly to the tank through the metering port. Carbide claims such a large amount of water could not have found its way into the tank by accident, and safety systems were not designed to deal with intentional sabotage. UC says that the rest of the plant staff falsified numerous records to distance themselves from the incident, and that the Indian Government impeded its investigation and declined to prosecute the employee responsible, presumably because that would weaken its allegations of negligence against Union Carbide.
Union Carbide has never publicly named or identified the employee it claims sabotaged its Bhopal plant or attempted to prosecute. Nevertheless, on the company’s Bhopal Information Center website, Carbide claims that “the Indian authorities are well aware of the identity of the employee and the nature of the evidence against him”.
Safety and equipment issues
The corporation denies the claim that the valves on the tank were malfunctioning, claiming that “documented evidence gathered after the incident showed that the valve close to the plant's water-washing operation was closed and leak-tight. Furthermore, process safety systems – in place and operational – would have prevented water from entering the tank by accident”. Carbide states that the safety concerns identified in 1982 were all allayed before 1984 and “none of them had anything to do with the incident”.
The company admits that “the safety systems in place could not have prevented a chemical reaction of this magnitude from causing a leak”. According to Carbide, “in designing the plant's safety systems, a chemical reaction of this magnitude was not factored in” because “the tank's gas storage system was designed to automatically prevent such a large amount of water from being inadvertently introduced into the system” and “process safety systems – in place and operational – would have prevented water from entering the tank by accident”. Instead, they claim that “employee sabotage – not faulty design or operation – was the cause of the tragedy”.
The company stresses the “immediate action” taken after the disaster and their continued commitment to helping the victims. On December 4th, the day following the leak, Union Carbide sent material aid and several international medical experts to assist the medical facilities in Bhopal.
Carbide put $2 million into the Indian Prime Minister’s immediate disaster relief fund on 11th December 1984. The corporation established the Employees' Bhopal Relief Fund in February 1985, which raised more than $5 million for immediate relief.
In August 1987, Carbide made an additional $4.6 million in humanitarian interim relief available.
Union Carbide also undertook several steps to provide continuing aid to the victims of the Bhopal disaster after the court ruling, including:
- The sale of its 50.9 percent interest in UCIL in April 1992 and establishment of a charitable trust to contribute to the building of a local hospital. The sale was finalized in November 1994. The hospital was begun in October 1995 and was opened in 2001. The company provided a fund with around $90 million from sale of its UCIL stock. In 1991, the trust had amounted approximately $100 million. The hospital caters for the treatment of heart, lung and eye problems.
- Providing "a $2.2 million grant to Arizona State University to establish a vocational-technical center in Bhopal, which was constructed and opened, but was later closed and leveled by the government”.
- Donating $5 million to the Indian Red Cross.
- Developing the Responsible Care system with other members of the chemical industry as a response to the Bhopal crisis, which is designed “to help prevent such an event in the future by improving community awareness, emergency preparedness and process safety standards”.
Legal action against Union Carbide has dominated the aftermath of the disaster. However, other issues have also continued to develop. These include the problems of ongoing contamination, criticisms of the clean-up operation undertaken by Union Carbide, and a 2004 hoax.
Time-line 1984-2004: See "Bhopal Gas Tragedy: Fact Sheet", Hindustan Times, Dec 3, 2004
Legal action against Union Carbide
Legal issues began affecting Union Carbide, the US and Indian governments, the local authorities in Bhopal and the victims of the disaster immediately after the catastrophe.
Legal proceedings leading to the settlement
On 14th December 1984, the Chairman and CEO of Union Carbide, Warren Anderson
, addressed the US Congress, stressing the company’s “commitment to safety” and promising to ensure that a similar accident “cannot happen again”. However, the Indian Government passed the Bhopal Gas Leak Act in March 1985, allowing the Government of India to act as the legal representative for victims of the disaster, leading to the beginning of legal wrangling.
March 1986 saw Union Carbide propose a settlement figure, endorsed by plaintiffs’ US attorneys, of $350 million that would, according to the company, “generate a fund for Bhopal victims of between $500-600 million over 20 years”. In May, litigation was transferred from the US to Indian courts by US District Court Judge. Following an appeal of this decision, the US Court of Appeals affirmed the transfer, judging, in January 1987, that UCIL was a “separate entity, owned, managed and operated exclusively by Indian citizens in India”. The judge in the US, Judge Keenan, granted Carbide’s forum request, thus moving the case to India. This meant that, under US federal law, the company had to submit to Indian jurisdiction.
Litigation continued in India during 1988. The Indian Supreme Court told both sides to come to an agreement and “start with a clean slate” in November 1988. Eventually, in an out-of-court settlement reached in 1989 , Union Carbide agreed to pay US$470 million for damages caused in the Bhopal disaster, 15% of the original $3 billion claimed in the lawsuit. By the end of October 2003, according to the Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Department, compensation had been awarded to 554,895 people for injuries received and 15,310 survivors of those killed. The average amount to families of the dead was $2,200.
Throughout 1990, the Indian Supreme Court heard appeals against the settlement from “activist petitions”. Nonetheless, in October 1991, the Supreme Court upheld the original $470 million, dismissing any other outstanding petitions that challenged the original decision. The decision set aside a “portion of settlement that quashed criminal prosecutions that were pending at the time of settlement”. The Court ordered the Indian government “to purchase, out of settlement fund, a group medical insurance policy to cover 100,000 persons who may later develop symptoms” and cover any shortfall in the settlement fund. It also “requests” that Carbide and its subsidiary “voluntarily” fund a hospital in Bhopal, at an estimated $17 million, to specifically treat victims of the Bhopal disaster. The company agreed to this. However, the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal notes that the Court also reinstated criminal charges.
Charges against Warren Anderson and others
The Chairman and CEO of Union Carbide, Warren Anderson
, had been arrested and released on bail by the Madhya Pradesh Police in Bhopal on December 7, 1984. This caused controversy as his trip to Bhopal was conditional on an initial promise by Indian authorities not to arrest him. Anderson has since refused to return to India.
Beginning in 1991, the local authorities from Bhopal charged Warren Anderson, who had retired in 1986, with manslaughter, a crime that carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Anderson has so far avoided an international arrest warrant and a US court summons. He was declared a fugitive from justice by the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Bhopal on February 1, 1992 for failing to appear at the court hearings in a culpable homicide case in which he was named the chief defendant. Orders were passed to the Government of India to press for an extradition from the United States, with whom India had an extradition treaty in place. He went missing for several years, until he was discovered by Greenpeace “living a life of luxury in the Hamptons”. The Bhopal Medical Appeal believe that “neither the American nor the Indian government seem interested in disturbing him with an extradition”. Some allege that the Indian government has hesitated to put forth a strong case of extradition to the United States, fearing backlash from foreign investors who have become more important players in the Indian economy following liberalization. A seemingly apathetic attitude from the US government, which has failed to pursue the case, has also led to strong protests in the past, most notably by Greenpeace. A plea by India's Central Bureau of Investigation to dilute the charges from culpable homicide to criminal negligence has since been dismissed by the Indian courts.
The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear appeal of the decision of the lower federal courts in October 1993, meaning that victims of the Bhopal disaster could not seek damages in a US court.
Meanwhile, very little of the money from the settlement reached with Union Carbide went to the survivors, and people in the area feel betrayed not only by Union Carbide (and chairman Warren Anderson), but also by their own politicians..On the anniversary of the tragedy, effigies of Anderson and politicians are burnt.
In July 2004, the Indian Supreme Court ordered the Indian government to release any remaining settlement funds to victims. The deadline for this release was extended by the Indian Supreme Court In April 2005, giving the Indian government until 30th April 2006 after a request from the Welfare Commission for Bhopal Gas Victims. The fund is believed to amount to $500 million after earning interest “from money remaining after all claims had been paid”.
August 2006 saw the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City upheld the dismissal of remaining claims in the case of Bano v. Union Carbide Corporation. This move blocked plaintiffs’ motions for class certification and claims for property damages and remediation. In the view of Carbide, “the ruling reaffirms UCC’s long-held positions and finally puts to rest — both procedurally and substantively – the issues raised in the class action complaint first filed against Union Carbide in 1999 by Haseena Bi and several organizations representing the residents of Bhopal”. In September 2006, the Welfare Commission for Bhopal Gas Victims announced that all original compensation claims and revised petitions had been “cleared".
Criminal charges are proceeding against former Union Carbide India Limited employees including: Former UCIL Chairman Shri Keshub Mahindra; presently Chairman-cum managing Director Shri Vijay Gokhale; former Vice-President Functioning In charge, Shri Kishor Kamdar; former works manager Shri J. Mukund; and former Production manager A.P. Division, Shri S.P. Choudhury.
Federal class action litigation, Sahu v. Union Carbide et al., is presently pending on appeal before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York. The litigation seeks damages for personal injury, medical monitoring and injunctive relief in the form of cleanup of the drinking water supplies for residential areas near the Bhopal plant. A related complaint seeking similar relief for property damage claimants is stayed pending the outcome of the Sahu appeal before the federal district court in the Southern District of New York.
Changes in corporate identity
Sale of Union Carbide India Limited
Union Carbide sold its Indian subsidiary, which had operated the Bhopal plant, to Eveready Industries India Limited
, in 1994.
Merger of Union Carbide and Dow Chemical Company
The Dow Chemical Company
purchased Union Carbide in 2001 for $10.3 billion in stock and debt. Dow has publicly stated several times that the Union Carbide settlement payments have already fulfilled Dow's financial responsibility for the disaster.
Some Dow stockholders filed suits to stop the merger, noting the outstanding liabilities for the Bhopal disaster. The merger has gained criticism from the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, as it is apparently “contrary to established merger law” in that “Dow denies any responsibility for Carbide’s Bhopal liabilities”. According to the Bhopal Medical Appeal, Carbide “remains liable for the environmental devastation” as environmental damage was not included in the 1989 settlement, despite ongoing contamination issues.
Ongoing contamination from the accident
Lack of political willpower has led to a stalemate on the issue of cleaning up the plant and its environs of hundreds of tonnes of toxic waste, which has been left untouched. Environmentalists
have warned that the waste is a potential minefield in the heart of the city, and the resulting contamination
may lead to decades of slow poisoning, and diseases affecting the nervous system, liver and kidneys in humans. Studies have shown that the rates of cancer
and other ailments are higher in the region since the event. Activists have demanded that Dow clean up this toxic waste, and have pressed the government of India to demand more money from Dow.
Criticisms of Clean-up Operations
Carbide states that “after the incident, UCIL began clean-up work at the site under the direction of Indian central and state government authorities”, which was continued after 1994 by the successor to UCIL, Eveready Industries, until 1998, when it was placed under the authority of the Madhya Pradesh Government. Critics of the clean-up undertaken by Carbide, such as the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal
, claim that “several internal studies” by the corporation, which evidenced “severe contamination”, were not made public; the Indian authorities were also refused access. They believe that Union Carbide “continued directing operations” in Bhopal until “at least 1995” through Hayaran, the US trained site manager, even after the sale of its UCIL stock. The successor, Eveready Industries, abruptly relinquished the site lease to one department of the State Government while being supervised by another department on an extensive clean up programme. Environmental problems resulting from lack of a proper clean-up persist today. The Madhya Pradesh authorities have announced that they will “pursue both Dow and Eveready” to conduct the clean-up as joint tortfeasors.
The International Campaign view Carbide’s sale of UCIL in 1994 as a strategy “to escape the Indian courts, who threatened Carbide’s assets due to their non-appearance in the criminal case”. The successor, Eveready Industries India, Limited (EIIL), ended its 99 year lease in 1998 and turned over control of the site to the state government of the Madhya Pradesh. Currently, the Madhya Pradesh Government is trying to legally force Dow and EIIL to finance clean-up operations.
Contamination from the site itself
A large portion of the contamination in the site itself and the surrounding areas did not arise directly from the Bhopal disaster, but rather from the materials processed at the plant and the conditions under which those materials were processed. A report from Greenpeace
details the extent and persistence of this contamination, which accounts for most of the heavy metal contamination.
In 2002, an inquiry found a number of toxins, including mercury, lead, 1,3,5 trichlorobenzene, dichloromethane and chloroform, in nursing women’s breast milk. Well water and groundwater tests conducted in the surrounding areas in 1999 showed mercury levels to be at “20,000 and 6 million times” higher than expected levels; heavy metals and organochlorines were present in the soil. Chemicals that have been linked to various forms of cancer were also discovered, as well as trichloroethene, known to impair fetal development, at 50 times above safety limits specified by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
In an investigation broadcast on BBC Radio 5 on November 14, 2004 , it was reported that the site is still contaminated with 'thousands' of metric tons of toxic chemicals, including benzene hexachloride and mercury, held in open containers or loose on the ground. Some areas are reportedly so polluted that anyone entering the area for more than ten minutes is likely to lose consciousness. Rainfall causes run-off, polluting local wells and boreholes, and the results of tests undertaken on behalf of the BBC by accredited water analysis laboratories in the United Kingdom reveal pollution levels in borehole water 500 times the legal maximum in that country. Statistical surveys of local residents, with a control population in a similarly poor area away from the plant, are reported to reveal higher levels of various diseases around the plant.
Additional Settlement Funds Hoax
On December 3, 2004, the twentieth anniversary of the disaster, a man claiming to be a Dow representative named Jude Finisterra was interviewed on the BBC. He claimed that the company had agreed to clean up the site and compensate those harmed in the incident. (video) Immediately afterward, Dow's share price fell 4.2% in 23 minutes, for a loss of $2 billion in market value Dow quickly issued a statement saying that they had no employee by that name — that he was an impostor, not affiliated with Dow, and that his claims were a hoax. BBC broadcast a correction and an apology. The statement was widely carried
"Jude Finisterra" was actually Andy Bichlbaum, a member of the activist prankster group The Yes Men. In 2002, The Yes Men issued a phony press release explaining why Dow refused to take responsibility for the disaster and started up a website, DowEthics.com, designed to look like the Dow website but give what they felt was a more accurate cast on the events. In 2004, a producer for BBC News emailed them through the website requesting an interview, which they gladly obliged
Taking credit for the prank in an interview on Democracy Now!, Bichlbaum explains how his fake name was derived: "Jude is the patron saint of impossible causes and Finisterra means the end of the Earth". He explained that he settled on this approach (taking responsibility) because it would show people precisely how Dow could help the situation as well as likely garnering major media attention in the US, which had largely ignored the disaster's anniversaries, when Dow attempted to correct the statement
After the original interview was revealed as a hoax, Bichlbaum appeared in a follow-up interview on the United Kingdom's Channel 4 news (video). During the interview he was repeatedly asked if he had considered the emotions and reaction of the people of Bhopal when producing the hoax. According to the interviewer, "there were many people in tears" upon having learned of the hoax. Each time, Bichlbaum said that, in comparison, what distress he had caused the people was minimal to that for which Dow was responsible.
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