On the Bioavailability of Methyl Isocyanate in the Bhopal Gas Leak

Dhara, V. Ramana

doi:10.1080/00039896.1992.9938379

Cited by 10 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…The proposed design resulted from careful research of the approaches taken to recover from similar environmental disasters in other communities 44-84, 15, 85-93,14, 94, 95, 16-27, 96-97 . As a part of that research consultants within the federal and state government, academia, a private research institute, and international experts on previous disasters 49, 55, 57, 70-73, 75-79, 98-100 were queried about their experiences in disaster recovery and their knowledge of persistent health effects of chlorine gas poisoning. A multidisciplinary academic advisory team was later developed which included some of these consultants and additional scientists from the most proximate schools of public health and medicine.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

GRACE: Public Health Recovery Methods Following an Environmental Disaster

Svendsen

Whittle

Sanders

et al. 2010

Archives of Environmental & Occupational Health

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Different approaches are necessary when Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) of environmental illness is initiated after an environmental disaster within a community. Often such events are viewed as golden scientific opportunities to do epidemiological studies. However, we believe that in such circumstances, community engagement and empowerment needs to be integrated into the public health service efforts in order for both those and any science to be successful, with special care being taken to address the immediate health needs of the community first rather than the pressing needs to answer important scientific questions. We will demonstrate how we have simultaneously provided valuable public health service, embedded generalizable scientific knowledge, and built a successful foundation for supplemental CBPR through our on-going recovery work after the chlorine gas disaster in Graniteville, South Carolina.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

GRACE: Public Health Recovery Methods Following an Environmental Disaster

Svendsen

Whittle

Sanders

et al. 2010

Archives of Environmental & Occupational Health

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“…Because the physical activity of these responses during exposure was unknown, they were classified as "other," and their duration of exposure was not included in the sum of duration index. 5. Altogether, how long were you exposed to the gas?…”

Section: Actions Following Gas Leakmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Reproductive health problems in the form of increased spontaneous abortions and psychological problems have been reported (3,4). The presence of multisystem symptoms in survivors has raised questions about the nature of MIC toxicity (5). Animal studies using inhaled, radiolabeled MIC have shown that MIC is capable of crossing the lung membranes and being distributed to many organs of the body (6).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Personal exposure and long-term health effects in survivors of the union carbide disaster at bhopal.

Dhara

Acquilla

et al. 2002

Environ Health Perspect

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Nine years after the Bhopal methyl isocyanate disaster, we examined the effects of exposures among a cross-section of current residents and a subset of those with persistent symptoms. We estimated individual exposures by developing exposure indices based on activity, exposure duration, and distance of residence from the plant. Most people left home after the gas leak by walking and running. About 60% used some form of protection (wet cloth on face, splashing water). Mean and median values of the exposure indices showed a declining trend with increasing distance from the plant. For those subjects reporting any versus no exposure, prevalence ratios were elevated for most respiratory and nonrespiratory symptoms. We examined exposure-response relationships using exposure indices to determine which were associated with health outcomes. The index total exposure weighted for distance was associated with most respiratory symptoms, one measure of pulmonary function in the cross-sectional sample [mid-expiratory flow (FEF)(25-75), p = 0.02], and two measures of pulmonary function in the hospitalized subset [forced expiratory volume (FEV)(1), p = 0.02; FEF(25-75), p = 0.08). Indices that correlated with FEV(1) and forced vital capacity in the hospitalized subset did not correlate with the cross-sectional sample, and most indices (except total exposure) that correlated with the hospitalized subset did not correlate with the cross-sectional sample. Incorporation of distance into every index increased the number of symptoms associated; an improvement was also noted in the strength of the association for respiratory symptoms, but not for pulmonary function. The sum of duration (p = 0.02) and total exposure (p = 0.03) indices independently demonstrated stronger associations with percent predicted FEF(25-75) than the distance variable (p = 0.04). The results show that total exposure weighted for distance has met the criteria for a successful index by being associated with most respiratory symptoms as well as FEF(25-75), features of obstructive airways disease.

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“…The possibility exists for portions of the civilian population to be exposed to chemical agents through industrial accidents, natural disasters, and terrorist attacks. The potential of mass casualties by an industrial accident was brought to the forefront in the 1984 Bhopal, India, disaster when approximately 3,600 people died as a result of an accidental release of 40 tons of methyl isocyanate, and possibly phosgene and hydrogen cyanide [1]. For many of these toxic chemicals, inhalation is the primary route of exposure and typically, there are no identified medical countermeasures.…”

Section: 0 Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conceptual approaches for treatment of phosgene inhalation-induced lung injury

Holmes¹,

Keyser²,

Paradiso³

et al. 2016

Toxicology Letters

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Toxic industrial chemicals are used throughout the world to produce everyday products such as household and commercial cleaners, disinfectants, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, plastics, paper, and fertilizers. These chemicals are produced, stored, and transported in large quantities, which poses a threat to the local civilian population in cases of accidental or intentional release. Several of these chemicals have no known medical countermeasures for their toxic effects. Phosgene is a highly toxic industrial chemical which was used as a chemical warfare agent in WWI. Exposure to phosgene causes latent, non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema which can result in respiratory failure and death. The mechanisms of phosgene-induced pulmonary injury are not fully identified, and currently there is no efficacious countermeasure. Here, we provide a proposed mechanism of phosgene-induced lung injury based on the literature and from studies conducted in our lab, as well as provide results from studies designed to evaluate survival efficacy of potential therapies following whole-body phosgene exposure in mice. Several therapies were able to significantly increase 24 hr survival following an LCt50–70 exposure to phosgene; however, no treatment was able to fully protect against phosgene-induced mortality. These studies provide evidence that mortality following phosgene toxicity can be mitigated by neuro- and calcium-regulators, antioxidants, phosphodiesterase and endothelin receptor antagonists, angiotensin converting enzymes, and transient receptor potential cation channel inhibitors. However, because the mechanism of phosgene toxicity is multifaceted, we conclude that a single therapeutic is unlikely to be sufficient to ameliorate the multitude of direct and secondary toxic effects caused by phosgene inhalation.

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On the Bioavailability of Methyl Isocyanate in the Bhopal Gas Leak

Cited by 10 publications

References 16 publications

GRACE: Public Health Recovery Methods Following an Environmental Disaster

GRACE: Public Health Recovery Methods Following an Environmental Disaster

Personal exposure and long-term health effects in survivors of the union carbide disaster at bhopal.

Conceptual approaches for treatment of phosgene inhalation-induced lung injury

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