Marshall University Women Connect presented a free screening to inform students on chemical safety Wednesday in the Memorial Student Center.
The women’s studies program organized a chemical safety awareness event for students interested in learning more about the chemicals in the region. A screening of “Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain” was shown with a short Q&A after.
The film was made in honor of the 30th anniversary of the world’s deadliest industrial disaster in Bhopal, India. In 1984 a pesticide leak from a Union Carbide killed more than 10,000 people in just a few hours.Guest speakers, Maya Nye, executive director of People Concerned About Chemical Safety, Renu Pariyadath, a Ph.D. Candidate in the Communication Studies Department at the University of Iowa, and Charles Somersville, dean of science, took time to answer a few questions after the film.
“It is important for students to understand chemical safety, so in case of an emergency we can make informed decisions, to know how the chemicals work so we can make the community safer,” Nye said.
Laura Michele Diener, director of women’s studies, clarified that it is essential to understand the effects wchemicals can have on female bodies.“Most people think of the immediate effects of chemicals, such as, sickness and burns. Although, there are long term effects for women and the reproductive health,” Diener said.

Effects in the reproductive system caused by chemical leaks can be birth defectives, increased and abnormal menstruations.
Allyson Carr can be contacted at [email protected].