The accidental release of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas from a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, in December 1984 now ranks as the worst industrial catastrophe in history. There is still no reliable estimate of the total number dead and injured. An estimated 100,000 to 200,000 people were exposed to a toxic plume of MIC that extended as far as 8 kilometers from the factory and covered and area of 40 square kilometers. The Program Development Board of the American Public Health Association (APHA) is charged with identifying those areas in which deficiencies in scientific knowledge exist in matters important to public health. In the present instance, merely defining the problem has been a formidable task, much less identifying the knowledge required to solve it. The first question is whether there is a need for APHA to concern itself with a subject that is already drawing considerable attention. APHA has recently issued position papers on some important issues that touch on the Bhopal tragedy and it would be wise to review these positions to see if they need any amendment in light of the Bhopal accident. The disaster in Bhopal has focused international public attention on occupational and environmentalmore » health, while at the same time the spectre of enormous financial liability has drawn serious attention on the part of industry to issues of health and safety. With the prevention of injury and disease as our central concern, the Bhopal Working Group undertook to identify the variety of public health problems raised by the Bhopal disaster.« less