Bhopal Timeline 2003-04

January 7, 2003: To show Dow that problems in India cannot just be ignored because they are far away we returned Bhopal waste to its new owner at Dow's biggest plant outside the US. Dow's response: arrests of over twenty activists.

January 23, 2003: In the last few months Dow has recieved over 15,000 emails and thousands more postcards asking it to clean up Bhopal. So far it has ignored all messages from concerned citizens. Se we organised something that is not so easily ingnored - a call in day to Dow's ethics line. Hundreds of people called in and Dow's response was the closure of phone lines to any questions on Bhopal.

March 10, 2003: To highlight Dow's attempts to silence survivors protests in India with a US$10,000 damages claim, we launch a internet sit-in of Dow's greenwash site at bhopal.com. True to form Dow refuses to drop the suit against peaceful protestors and attempts to evade the internet action with technical tricks. The protest brings down bhopal.com on Wednesday 12 March.

March 11, 2003: Activists block the entrances to the Houston Dow Center after delivering 250 gallons of contaminated water taken from wells in Bhopal, the site of the world's worst industrial disaster. The water, the same water that the people of Bhopal are forced to use everyday, is removed from the scene by a US hazardous materials team. Dow gets people in chemical suits to remove the water but is content to let poor Indians use it everyday?

March 18, 2003: Disappointment as a US court throws out Bhopal survivors' civil damages lawsuit. The judge, John F Keenan, has thwarted all three attempts to prosecute Union Carbide in the US, and his latest decision makes no effort to conceal its bias. Survivors seek an appeal and a new judge for the case citing his decision as "glaring instance of juridical prejudice."

March 25, 2003: Survivors organisations confirm intent to appeal the decision. Read the grounds for appeal and an interesting look at the shaky grounds the judge used to protect corporate criminals for a third time. Even the local paper in Dow's hometown says Dow should be cleaning up the polluted site.

April 22, 2003: Rashida Bee and Champa Devi Shukla, gas affected Bhopal survivors and Satinath Sarangi of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action arrive in Texas for a 40 day tour of the US. During their tour, Rashida and Champa visit various communities affected by Dow Chemical, and also engage in strategic discussion with support groups to strengthen their struggle for justice.

May 1, 2003: Rasheeda, Champa and long-time Bhopal activist Satinath Sarangi along with other Bhopal supporters launch a satyagraha - fast for justice - against Union Carbide's new owner, Dow Chemical, with a demonstration in New York. A Dow spokesman blithely remarks in response to the hunger strike, "We view the situation as resolved"

May 8, 2003: At the Dow annual meeting in Midland, Michigan, Rasheeda, Champa and Satinath bring the disaster home to top executives of Dow Chemical. The activists are reluctantly granted a meeting with the Dow CEO. However the now familiar stonewalling and another lecture in corporate hand washing and PR is the only result of the short meeting. William Stavaropolos, Dow CEO, claims in a speech to the shareholders at the meeting that Dow-Carbide no longer faces any criminal cases in India. John Musser, Dow's public relations spokesperson is later forced to admit that this claim is wrong.

May 12, 2003: The three hunger strikers today end their personal fast by calling on supporters and justice campaigners around the world to take over and fast in relays from now until the 19th anniversary of the Bhopal gas disaster.

July 1, 2003: Significant developments as the Indian government finally and reluctantly does what it and its predecessors ought to have done long ago by serving extradition papers to the US government for the chairman of Carbide at the time of the disaster, Warren Anderson. This time last year, it was applying to dilute the charges against Anderson. It has taken huge pressure from survivors and their supporters around the world, plus two global hunger-strikes, and angry condemnation by an all-party committee of Indian MPs to force the government's hand. More from Bhopal.net (scroll to bottom of page).

July 22, 2003: Eighteen members of US Congress send a letter to Dow Chairman William Stavropoulos demanding that his company assume liability for the wrongdoings of Union Carbide (its 100 percent subsidiary) in Bhopal. Read the letter (pdf file) and press statement.

October 8, 2003: The Journal of American Medical Association [JAMA] published a study carried out by the Sambhavna Trust Clinic showing growth retardation among children conceived by parents exposed to the toxic gases of Union Carbide after the December 1984 disaster. The study published in the October 8th issue of the prestigious medical publication shows that male offspring of exposed parents are shorter, lighter, thinner and have smaller heads than sons born to unexposed parents in the same period.

October 18, 2003: US congressmen file an Amicus brief with the Second Circuit, US Court of Appeals. Congressman Pallone and eight other US lawmakers on behalf of the Bhopal survivors Class Action filed the appeal.

December 1-3, 2003: Around 63 locations around the world joined in the plea for 'global day of action against corporate crime' and held solidarity actions for Bhopal survivors.

March 17, 2004: Second Court of Appeals in New York announced their decision on the class action lawsuit filed in New York. The decision was a landmark legal decision regarding the environmental pollution of soil and groundwater in and around the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal. The US court ruled in our favour that Bhopal victims are legally entitled to pursue claims against Union Carbide for cleanup and environmental remediation of off-site contamination on their properties or private hand pumps (in addition to other claims such as property damage and medical monitoring).

April 15, 2004: The City of San Francisco became the first US city to introduce a resolution urging The Dow Chemical Company to address pending issues facing the survivors of the 1984 Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal, Indian and to observe December 3, 2004 the 20th anniversary of the disaster as Bhopal Remembrance Day.

April 19, 2004: Two long time activist and gas survivors, Rasheeda Bee and Champa Devi Shukla win the prestigious Goldman Environment Prize in San Francisco California. They received an award for US$125,000, which they decided to put into a trust to fund medical care for children born with birth defects to gas-exposed parents, livelihood regeneration projects for those unable to work because of their exposure, and a new award for those fighting corporate crime in India.

April 21, 2004: Innovest Strategic Value Advisors Inc, a financial group, launches a major report on Dow's liabilities called "Major Investor Risks Under the Radar at Dow Chemical." This report(pdf file) details the significant unreported, or underreported environmental risks facing the company.

April 29, 2004: Two survivors of the December 1984 Union Carbide gas disaster in Bhopal, meet with Mr Jose Antonio Ocampo, UN undersecretary general of Economic & Social Affairs, to remind him of the "total absence of initiatives by any of the UN Agencies towards rehabilitation of helath, economic status, environment or child welfare for the more than 500,000 survivors suffering as a result of exposure". Ocampo promises to look into the matter.

May 7, 2004: The Supreme Court of India has directed the state government to immediately supply drinking water through pipeline to the Bhopal community residing around the contaminated Dow/Union Carbide factory site.

May 13, 2004: The survivors of the 1984 Bhopal gas leak as well as several supporters protest against Dow Chemical headquarters in Midland, Michigan for its ongoing refusal to address its pending liabilities in Bhopal. More than 6 percent of Dow shareholders voted in favour of the Bhopal resolution that asks Dow's management to address specific health, environmental and social concerns of the Bhopal survivors.

June 16, 2004: The Bhopal Court issues a notice to Dow to appear in the court in the context of ongoing criminal case against Union Carbide.

June 18, 2004: Two gas survivors Rashida Bee, Shahid Noor and long time activist Sathyu launched the hunger strike to obtain 'No Objection Certificate' from Government of India regarding the clean up and decontamination of the Carbide plant site. This certificate was needed in the New York district court by June 30th, 2004. Over 400 survivors from Bhopal also attended the launch of the fast in Delhi.

June 23, 2004: After 6 days of gruelling hunger strike, out of which 3 days were without water, Ministry of Chemicals decided to issue the 'No Objection Certificate' to New York Court. This was a significant victory for Bhopal Campaign and global solidarity following mounting pressure from cyberactivists, local and international groups and intensive lobbying by Greenpeace campaigners in India.

June 24, 2004: Greenpeace confronts the UN "Global Compact" initiative on voluntary calls for Corporate and Social Responsibility during a meeting in New York for failing to deal with cases like Bhopal. Demands were raised for an international binding legal framework on corporate accountability. Currently the UN only promotes weak voluntary measures.

July 13, 2004: US government unsurprisingly rejects Warren Anderson's extradition request from Indian government. The rejection was on technical grounds like non-framing of charges against Warren Anderson in the ongoing criminal case in Bhopal district court.

July 19, 2004: The Indian Supreme Court orders the Indian Government to distribute the balance of compensation remaining from Union Carbide's settlement amount (Rs 1503 crores) among the 566,876 Bhopal survivors whose claims have been successfully settled. More on what this means to survivors in Bhopal.

August 2, 2004: Dow Chemical announces that Andrew Liveris, the chemical giant's current president and chief operating officer, would replace William Stavropoulos as chief executive.

September 3, 2004: Dow files their reply in the Bhopal Criminal case stating that DCIPL has no relationship TDCC. It also said that TDCC did not merge with Union Carbide, in fact it was a company called Transnational. Ummm... sounds clear as mud and probably intended just to confuse - obviously an interesting legal manoeuvre to flee any judicial recognition in court!

September 9, 2004: Greenpeace in India launches its Solar Generation project from Bhopal. Together with the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB), the project is an income generation initiative for young survivors of the world's worst industrial disaster. The project will be carried out by 'Bhopal ki Awaz', an organisation of people orphaned by the disaster and a constituent of ICJB.

September 21, 2004: At the opening of the Premier Vision textile exhibition in Paris, Greenpeace activists and Bhopali Survivors from ICJB dressed in black t-shirts - each one revealing the faces of Bhopal victims - confronted Dow Chemical as the company presented its new fibre, XLA.

September 29th, 2004: Congressman Frank Pallone, introduces a US Congressional resolution asking for Union Carbide to provide complete medical, social, and economic rehabilitation to the victims of the disaster. And to undertake a complete environmental remediation that restores the badly polluted plant site affected by this disaster to a habitable condition and fully remediate the drinking water supply of affected residential communities. He also request to ensure that Union Carbide appears before the Bhopal District Court for prosecution on the criminal charges pending against it.