Looking for Mr. Anderson.

Kirk Nielsen is to be congratulated for locating the whereabouts of Warren Anderson, the CEO of Union Carbide at the time of the Bhopal toxic release ("Warren Anderson's Silence," May issue).

On August 11, 1985, the Union Carbide facility in Institute, West Virginia, had a major chemical release. The plant manufactured the pesticide aldicarb. The company identified some twenty-four different chemicals in the release. More than 100 people were treated at local hospitals, with twenty-eight admitted for care, among them six workers. Most had respiratory symptoms.

Three years after the incident, I examined seven people who lived close to the plant and who brought legal action against Union Carbide for persistent adverse health effects from the spill. Like the victims at Bhopal, all had significant lung, upper respiratory, and eye problems; more than half had headaches and heart problems; half had skin problems, some persistent; and one patient died soon after I examined him.

The Union Carbide spill was defended by Kelley, Drey & Warren of New York City, the same law firm identified in Nielsen's article. It seems inconceivable that after Bhopal, a similar incident would occur at another Union Carbide factory, but it did, and it was not the first at the Institute, West Virginia, plant. According to EPA data, there had been 192 leaks over the 1978-1987 period. One can hope that some enterprising official will follow Nielsen's lead and compel former Union Carbide executives to answer for the tragedy at Bhopal, as well as the other plants under their control.

Janette D. Sherman, M.D.

Via e-mail

Your story about Anderson of Union Carbide is inexcusably poor journalism. The fact is your writer was unable to get the interview, so he chose to write about "the hunt." The story contains absolutely nothing of value about Bhopal or Anderson. The language is loaded and treats Anderson unfairly. It qualifies as borderline yellow journalism.

It's one thing to be a liberal magazine, quite another to be unfair and irresponsible. For the record, I'm not a Union Carbide shareholder and do not know Anderson. I am, however, familiar with the Bhopal disaster.

I've been subscribing to The Progressive for less than a year. But another article in the same vein as the Anderson story will certainly be grounds for canceling my subscription.

Robin M. Matell

Highland Park, Illinois