Members of the International Campaign for Justice In Bhopal joined survivors of the 1984 chemical disaster in Bhopal, India in protesting at the Dow Chemical annual shareholders meeting.
With graphic eleven-foot banners of gas-affected Bhopal
residents as a backdrop, activists held up photographs of people in
Bhopal affected by Dow's pollution at a rally outside the
shareholder meeting in Midland, Michigan. More than thirty people
from the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, a global
coalition campaigning to hold Dow accountable for Bhopal's toxic
legacy, attended the rally and shareholder meeting.
A delegation from the International Campaign for Justice in
Bhopal is scheduled to meet Dow Chairman and CEO William
Stavropoulos after the AGM. The delegation will reiterate its
demands to Dow and will also extend an offer to Mr. Stavropoulos to
personally come and visit the Bhopal community and the abandoned
disaster site.
Mrs. Rasheeda Bee and Mrs. Champa Devi, survivors and leaders of
the trade union Bhopal Gas Affected Women Stationery Workers
Association, and long-time Bhopal activist Satinath Sarangi,
launched their fast on May 1, 2003, at a demonstration in New
York's financial district. More than 130 people around the world
are already fasting in solidarity with the trio, and hundreds more
have said they will join them today to urge Dow to take
responsibility for the ongoing disaster in Bhopal.
"We're fasting to insist on the truth and to let the world know
that the world's largest chemical corporation is now responsible
for the liabilities in the world's worst industrial disaster," said
51-year old Devi, referring to the February 2001 Dow-Carbide
merger, and Dow's inheritance of Carbide's Bhopal liabilities.
Devi's husband and five children were exposed to Carbide's gases
during the disaster in 1984, with her husband succumbing to cancer
in 1997. Devi's granddaughter was born with deformities, a
condition common to children born to gas-affected parents.
"Dow can deny its liabilities all it wants. But its liabilities
and our struggle will only grow as time passes. As long as
Carbide's toxic legacy continues to haunt Bhopal, Carbide's
liabilities will haunt Dow and its shareholders," said Sarangi. On
April 25, victims and survivors organizations reopened a recently
dismissed class action suit seeking clean up and compensation for
contamination-related damages, by filing an appeal in the 2nd
Circuit Court of Appeals in New York. Union Carbide currently faces
criminal charges, including manslaughter, in a Bhopal court for its
role in the gas disaster.
Last year, socially responsible investment firms, with over $13
billion in assets, sent a letter to Dow highlighting its
liabilities in Bhopal and expressing the need for urgent action.
Since the Union Carbide merger, Dow has suffered serious financial
losses, prompting industry observers at Forbes and Business Week to
highlight the Carbide purchase as a likely bad investment and
future liability for the company.
"Dow's irresponsible behaviour in Bhopal is in line with its
corporate ethos. What can you expect of a company that has even
poisoned its own nest?" said Terry Miller of Bay City-based Lone
Tree Council. Miller, who is a resident of Bay County, says Dow
facilities in Midland have contaminated large areas in the
vicinity, including the Tittabawasee river flood plain. Trillium
Asset Management has filed a resolution asking the company to
report to shareholders on dioxin contamination and persistent toxic
compounds. The resolution seeks information on all contaminated
areas, potential liabilities, and future plans related to the
company's operations and products.
The International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal calls upon Dow
to:
- face the criminal charges that were originally brought against
Union Carbide in India;
- release toxicological information regarding the poison gases
that were leaked from the Union Carbide plant in 1984 so that
people who are still suffering effects of gas exposure can be
properly treated;
- arrange for long-term medical rehabilitation and
monitoring;
- provide economic rehabilitation and social support for
survivors' children;
- clean up the toxic wastes and contaminated groundwater in and
around Union Carbide's deserted factory site.
Notes: The International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal is comprised of: Association for India's Development, Austin, Ann Arbor & Bay Area, USA, Bhopal Action Resource Center, USA, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationary Karmachari Sangh, India, Bhopal Group for Information and Action, India, Bhopal Information Network, Japan, Calhoun County Resource Watch, Seadrift, USA, Center for Health & Environment, USA, Corpwatch, India, Essential Action, USA, Ecology Centre of Michigan, USA, Environmental Health Fund, USA, Greenpeace International, National Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, India, Pesticide Action Network North America, UK, The Other Media India, UK Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, Justice for Bhopal, Ann Arbor USA.