Bhopal Victims Show Signs of Eye Ailment

Medical studies show a majority of the 200,000 people injured in the 1984 Union Carbide gas leak are suffering from an eye ailment that can lead to blindness, the head of a government commission said today.

Dr. S. Krishnamurthy told United Press International that the development of corneal opacity among survivors of history’s worst industrial accident was detected only recently.

He said the condition, which can usually be corrected by surgery, was the first long-term effect of toxic methyl isocyanate identified by medical experts in Bhopal, 375 miles south of New Delhi.

“The loss of vision is appearing very late,” said Krishnamurthy, chairman of a scientific commission appointed by the central government to study the long-term effects of the chemical on humans, animals and the environment.

Gas Killed 1,700

Forty tons of MIC, a chemical used in pesticide production, vaporized and spewed Dec. 3, 1984, from the plant owned by the Danbury, Conn.-based Union Carbide Corp., blanketing a wide area of Bhopal. More than 1,700 people were killed and 200,000 others injured.

Corneal opacity is a condition in which the cornea--the transparent outer coating of the eyeball--becomes scarred, preventing light from entering the eye. In many cases, it can lead to serious vision impairment and blindness.