Reporting Bhopal

Reporting Bhopal I WISH to respond to Padma Prakash's review on my book, Bhopal. The Lessons of a Thagedy (December 3, 1988).
The only nice thing that Padma Prakash has to say about my book is in her last sentence and I quote: "And, unfortunately, of all the books on Bhopal, many of them more analytical, this will be the one which will probably be read most widely" However, unlike Padma Prakash, I see nothing unfortunate in people reading my book, Padma Prakash accuses me at various points of sanitising the horror of the disaster and of falling prey to a UCC disinformation campaign. Of course, she is nice enough to say that I try and document Bhopal "objectively". But she doubts whether this "much-touted principle of good journalism" can apply to such a situation. She also says that my view of the medical tragedy is that UCC failed to give proper information instead of trying to cover up. But the nastiest bit is about how the book is "something of a betrayal of the thousands who died and the generations who continue to suffer from the Union Carbide disaster". She also questions my data base, saying I rely excessively on the New York Times, the Washington Post and the International Herald TYibune.