Take the message direct to Dow Chemical

In 1984 a deadly gas leak at the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, India caused the world's worst industrial disaster. To date 20,000 people have died as a result of the toxic gas and 150,000 are chronically ill. Union Carbide immediately fled India leaving the abandoned factory strewn with toxic waste. In 2001 Dow bought Union Carbide's assets but also its liabilities. Today the abandoned plant leaks poisons into the water supply and one person a day continues to die from the long-term effects of the contamination.

How do you call?

Phone calls are free from anywhere in the world. Dow even has an ethics line open 24 hours a day to deal with any ethical concerns you may have about the company.

- From the US call 1-800-803-6862.
- For free phone numbers in other countries check here for your country and follow the instructions.

If you encounter problems you can call +1-989-636-2544 (not a free call number). If they cannot answer your question you can either make a formal report and have them call you back or call the headquarters of Dow in the US on +1 989-636-1000(not a free call number). Ask to speak to head of Public Affairs, John Musser, or take your complaint to the top by requesting to speak to William S. Stavropoulos, the new Dow CEO. It is possible that Dow will either be engaged or refuse to answer your question. We suggest you keep trying until they answer your concerns. Let us know what happened when you called Dow.

Despite Dow's claims of zero harm and responsible care it continues to ignore the worst example of corporate irresponsibility. If you call and get through as well as demanding Dow clean up Bhopal you could ask some of the following questions:

- Why is Dow actually suing the survivors of the disaster for US$10,000 for their peaceful legal protest?

- Dow settled Union Carbide's liabilities on asbestos in the US, but despite two ongoing court cases in India and the US, refuses to settle or even discuss any claims on Bhopal.

Of course if the number is engaged or you cannot call today, you can always try tomorrow or indeed until Dow does accept its responsibilities in Bhopal. With just a short call you can support the people suffering in Bhopal and show Dow and other corporations that corporate crimes cannot be ignored no matter where they occur in the world.

For inspiration and an idea of what you can expect when you call Dow listen to these mp3 sound files of calls already made:

Call one - The very subject of Bhopal seems to cause some confusion, apparently there is only one person at Dow who can answer calls on Bhopal and he is busy!

Call two - The ethics line is slightly more prepared but still needs help to spell the word Bhopal? We file a report and request Dow phones us back.

Call three - On the day Dow closes the ethics line to any concerns on Bhopal asking people to hang up and get misinformation from Dow's website instead. According to the message the world's worst industrial disaster is a mere 'incident'?

Call four - Not content with a recorded message we called the Ethics office directly. No answers there either, just confusion and the same lame excuse that we should go to the website.