A suggestive evidence
in this respect comes from the Bhopal disaster (17
December 1984), which occurred during the night and
was caused by a sudden escape of a toxic gas (methyl
isocyanate) from a large chemical plant. The surprising
fact was that none of the active workers inside the plant
died from the fumes, while outside thousands of
inhabitants of the nearby villages died in their sleep and
so did thousands of cattle. At the same time, nocturnal
active rats, which were observed to be scurrying around
the human corpses, were apparently little affected
(Reinberg and Smofensky, 1985).