16-year-old Turhar Hasan struggles with toys at the Chingari Rehabilitation Centre in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. He belongs to the third generation of a family of victims. 40 years ago, his grandparents were exposed to methyl isocyanate (MIC) used in the production of the pesticide Sevin at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) factory in Bhopal.
Turhar suffers from development delay (DD), which refers to the inability of a child to gain the expected developmental skills compared to others of the same age. Delays may occur in motor function, speech and language, cognitive and play functions, and social skills.
At the same centre, there is seven-and-half-year-old Advait Bansal, who suffers from Down syndrome. Like Turhar, Advait’s mother, father, and grandparents were exposed to the gas leak from the UCIL plant on the intervening night of 2 and 3 December 1984.
A survivors’ organisation alleged that the Indian Council for Medical Research …