Source:
By Ken Ward Jr. staff writerReducing the stockpile of deadly methfyl isocyanate at Bayer CropScience's Institfute plant is a "feasible, but costly" project that Bayer has never fully examined, according to internal documents obtained by congressional investigators.
Bayer officials briefly studied thfe idea after buying the Institute plant in 2002, but were not able to produce evidence to show "the extent to which the company analyzed the costs and benefits of changing its storage or inventory procedures," a House subcommittee report issued this week concluded.
During a hearing Tuesday, House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., recalled investigating the Institute plant -- then owned by Union Carbide -- just after a leak of MIC killed thousands at a sister facility in Bhopal, India.
"Twenty-five years after the catastrophe in India, I think it's finally time to ask whether it makes sense to allow Bayer to continue producing and storing such massive amounts of this highly toxic chemical," Waxman said in opening the hearing.
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http://www.wvgazette.com/News/200904220737
So it's Bayer's bottom line, vs the safety of thousands of people living in the area? Same kind of greed based thinking that led to the disaster at Bhopal, India. I guess Bayer figures, as cheaply as Union Carbide got away with killing thousands in India, that they could just pay for another disaster cheaper than they could make sure people in this area are safe? Hell, we're just a bunch of expendable hillbillies...no biggie???? Less troublemakers around to bitch about mountain top removal and polluted air and water?