'Children still bear consequences of Bhopal gas tragedy'

Bhopal, December 2: At least 2,500 out of every 100,000 children born to parents exposed to the gas leakage here in 1984 bear malformations, experts said on the 31st anniversary of the Bhopal gas tragedy. The experts from an NGO running a clinic for the survivors of the Bhpoal gas tragedy said far too many children were being born with malformations to parents with acute exposure to toxic gas that leaked from the now-shut Union Carbide factory or chronic exposure to contamited water. The NGO, Sambhava Trust, after a study involving over 100,000 people from about 20,000 families, urged the central and Madhya Pradesh governments to ensure that such children be identified and treated. “We want that the centre and Madhya Pradesh government identify and treat children with congenital malformations born to parents exposed to the tragedy,” Sambhav’ smaging trustee Satith Sarangi said on Wednesday. The Sambhav Clinic, run by the NGO, provides free medical care to the survivors of the gas disaster and those exposed to contamited groundwater, he added. Over 3,000 people were believed to have died in the Bhopal gas leak tragedy that took place on the night of December 2-3, 1984. (IANS)