Protocols, training to handle dangerous chemicals a must

We’ve had a toxic gas leak in Delhi, something that has caused health problems to 487 people, many of whom were children.

The chemical, 2 chloro 5 chloromethylpyredine, caused intense irritation in the eyes of the victims, apart from causing nausea and other symptoms.

This is neither Delhi’s first chemical accident nor India’s.

Who can forget the tragic death of schoolchildren in Bihar, when their mid-day meal was accidentally poisoned because of pesticide containers?

And the ongoing poisoning of both Bangalore’s Bellandur lake from industrial toxins and Kodaikanal from mercury dumped by Hindustan Unilever?

Before all this, the Oleum leak and of course, the Bhopal Gas tragedy, which showed how the worst poisons were right there, in our neighbourhood.

I won’t talk about the fact that we haven’t learnt anything from these, although this is the case.

I would rather draw attention to the fact that we simply like and are comfortable with — informality while handling dangerous chemicals.

We simply cannot allow this. We need clear protocols and strict training and enforcement, as the new case shows.

These protocols start with the legally required labelling, but extend up to not allowing such chemicals to be kept parked in the sun. These protocols will have to then be disseminated, training done and efforts made to clean our horrid haz-waste legacy.

Equally, we need to revisit the Supreme Court case, RFSTNRP Vs the Union of India, which laid out some provisions for hazardous waste handling. Shall we not go back and roll out the basics, starting in our own backyard?