Thirty Greenpeace activists, constituent of the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, delivered eighteen barrels of poisonous waste collected from Bhopal, India to Dow's European headquarters in Horgen, Switzerland today.
As business leaders and world governments gather in Davos for
this week's World Economic Forum, thirty Greenpeace activists,
constituent of the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal,
delivered eighteen barrels of poisonous waste collected from
Bhopal, India to Dow's European headquarters in Horgen, Switzerland
today. As the waste was delivered, people beat drums displaying a
message urging the U.S. chemical giant to stop poisoning people and
to clean up its toxic mess in Bhopal. The police prevented the
activists from flying a hot air balloon in the form of the Earth
over the industrial site.
"For Dow to show it's face at this week's World Economic Forum
and discuss building trust while it's complicit in the death of
thousands of people living around the site of the world's worst
industrial disaster, is sickening. If corporations such as Dow want
to engender trust, they should stop the smooth words and accept
responsibility for the pollution and disasters they cause and stop
poisoning people," said Ganesh Nochur from Greenpeace in India,
speaking outside Dow's European headquarters.
The 300 kg of waste delivered to Dow's European headquarter
today is just a fraction of hundreds of tonnes that have lain
strewn around the derelict pesticide plant in Bhopal since 1984
when Union Carbide, which was taken over by Dow in 2001, fled the
city after a gas leak at the plant killed 8,000 people and injured
half a million. Today, the death toll stands at 20,000 and is
rising every day. Children born to survivors are suffering health
problems and 150,000 people are in urgent need of medical
attention.
No-one has accepted responsibility for the toxic waste or
cleaned it up so it has leaked into the soil and water in the area
and is poisoning local people. The inaction continues even though
confidential internal Union Carbide documents, recently released by
the U.S. courts, show that the company knew about the toxic problem
at its Bhopal site but misled the public and the Indian authorities
by saying the site was clean. (1)
Greenpeace has been researching the levels of contamination in
and around the disaster site in Bhopal for several years. Its most
recent research (2) found a number of dangerous toxic substances in
the waste including the pesticide Sevin and BHC, a mixture of toxic
chemicals that can damage the nervous system, liver and kidneys and
which can be passed from mother to child in the womb.
"Each of the eighteen barrels of toxic waste we're delivering to
Dow today represents a year that it has been left to poison people
in Bhopal. We will carry on reminding Dow around the world of its
toxic legacy in Bhopal to make sure it accepts its responsibility
and liabilities in and finally puts and end to the worst industrial
tragedy of our times (3)," added Nochur.
Greenpeace is a member of the International Campaign for Justice
in Bhopal (ICJB), a coalition of survivors, non-governmental
organisations and individuals around the world that are calling on
Dow to accept its pending liabilities in Bhopal, to clean up the
site, provide people with clean drinking water, long-term medical
care and full compensation. The ICJB is also calling for
international legislation to be put in place to make sure
companies, such as Dow, are held responsible for pollution or
accidents their operations cause, wherever they occur. (4)
VVPR info: Video of today's action are available on request from Greenpeace International on + 31 20 524 9509Photos of today's action and images of Bhopal taken by Magnum photographer Raghu Rai, are available from Greenpeace International on + 31 20 524 9580
Notes: (1) Despite growing evidence that Union Carbide cut safety measures at its Bhopal plant that it insisted on at its sister plant in the U.S., and knew of the contamination at the Bhopal site, Dow continues to claim that Union Carbide "has done what it needs to do to pursue the correct environment, health and safety programs" in Bhopal. See www.greenpeace.org or 'Poison Papers' at www.bhopal.net(2) See the new Greenpeace report see http://archive.greenpeace.org/reports/bhopal.pdf. For guidelines on how to clean up Bhopal see http://archive.greenpeace.org/reports/cleanup.pdf(3) Greenpeace has returned Bhopal toxic waste to Dow's biggest European plant in the Netherlands (January 7th 2003), to Dow's factory in Map Tha Phut, Thailand (December 2nd 2002). On 2nd December 2002, Greenpeace and Bhopal survivors delivered contaminated soil and water gathered from communities that live around the derelict factory site in Bhopal and delivered it to Dow India's headquarters in Bombay. Dow has taken out an injunction against survivors of the disaster and is attempting to fine them 500,000 Indian rupees (10,000 USD).(4) See the Greenpeace report 'Corporate Crimes' (www.greenpeace.org) for the Ten Bhopal Principles on Corporate Accountability, launched at the Earth Summit last August where governments agreed to the need for a global instrument on corporate accountabilitywww.greenpeace.orgwww.bhopal.netwww.dowethics.com