The Night the Gas Came - December 3, 1984

On December 3, 1984, forty-two tons of toxic gas leaked from a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, killing thousands in a single night and injuring hundreds of thousands more. Richard Backus investigates how systematic cost-cutting degraded multiple safety systems, creating a preventable disaster. But this episode goes beyond the technical failures to examine the uncomfortable questions: Why do we accept lower safety standards in poor communities? Why was justice denied to the victims? And why do we keep repeating the same patterns? This isn't just about industrial safety it's about whose lives we value and whether we're willing to protect the vulnerable, even when it costs more.