On the 20th anniversary of the Bhopal industrial disaster, activists display images from Bhopal and ask the general public for signatures demanding the chemical industry Dow to pay its debt with the citizens of Bhopal.
Toxic hotspots
Across the globe irresponsible companies and negligent governments have created many global toxic hotspots.
Many toxic chemicals are global pollutants and areas such as oldfactories, dumping grounds, effluent outfalls and waste storage sitesare heavily polluted and listed on our Global Toxics Hotspots Map. Check the Map to find out where toxics hotspots are in your country and who was responsible for creating them.
Bhopal:
TheBhopal disaster in India, in 1984, was the world's worst chemicaldisaster. Toxic gas leaked from the poorly maintained and understaffedplant owned by Union Carbide, killing up to 20,000 people and leaving120,000 chronically ill.
The survivors have never received adequate compensation for theirdebilitating illnesses and even 20 years after the disaster, the polluted site of the abandoned factory,bleeds poisons daily into the groundwater of local residents. Bhopal isan ongoing disaster and Union Carbide's new owners, Dow Chemicals,should pay to clean up the toxic mess.
Slideshow on the Bhopal disaster:
Immediate aftermath and the tragic effects of an avoidable disaster.
Read:
Bhopal Principles, an international sustainability policy to curb rampant corporate irresponsibility.
Chemical Stockpiles at Union Carbide in Bhopal. Exectutive Summary
Technical guidelines for cleanup at the Union Carbide India Ltd (UCIL) site in Bhopal, Madya Pradesh, India (2002 Greenpeace report)
The Bhopal Legacy (Greenpeace report)
Corporate Crimes: The need for an international instrument on corporate accountability and liability (2002 Greenpeace report)
Visit www.bhopal.net for Union Carbide's secret "poison papers" court documents and links.
Greenpeace holds protests against Dow around the world. (December 3, 2001)