PANUPS: Courts Take Aim at Dow for Bhopal

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> PANUPS: Courts Take Aim at Dow for Bhopal

> Fri, 02 Jul 2004 13:08:42 -0700

>

> ===========================================

> P A N U P S

> Pesticide Action Network Updates Service

> ===========================================

>

> Courts Take Aim at Dow for Bhopal

> July 02, 2004

>

> Two recent court decisions have raised the hopes of

> Bhopal survivors and may impose liability on Union

> Carbide and its owner, Dow Chemical for continuing

> environmental contamination at Bhopal. Both

> companies have stressed since their merger in 2001

> that no liabilities remain from the world's

> worst-ever industrial disaster, but within the past

> two weeks courts in the United States and in India

> have indicated they may rule otherwise.

>

> In 1984, the Union Carbide pesticide plant in

> Bhopal, India, released 40 tons of methyl isocyanate

> gas into neighboring communities, killing an

> estimated 8,000 people and injuring more than half a

> million, according to the Indian Council for Medical

> Research. Thousands have died from gas-related

> causes since the accident.

>

> On the night of the explosion, the plant's safety

> systems were inadequate, malfunctioning or shut

> down. In 1989 Union Carbide, the plant's operator,

> agreed to an out of court settlement of $470

> million, which amounted to less than $500 for most

> survivors. The funds turned out to be far short for

> covering medical costs of illnesses that are now

> appearing in successive generations. Also, the

> factory site has never been cleaned up; the 5,000

> tons of toxic wastes abandoned there by Union

> Carbide contaminate the drinking water of tens of

> thousands and have been found in the breast milk of

> resident nursing mothers.

>

> In 1999 survivors' organizations filed a lawsuit in

> U.S. courts to force Union Carbide to cleanup the

> site, but it wasn't until March of 2004 that the

> U.S. Court of Appeals ruled a lower court could hold

> Union Carbide liable for cleanup. However, the Court

> ruling required the Indian government to send a

> letter to the U.S. court stating it had " no

> objection. " to a ruling for cleanup. The deadline

> set by the court for receipt of this letter was June

> 30, 2004.

>

> The International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal

> (ICJB) (which includes PANNA) the Association for

> India's Development (AID), and Greenpeace launched a

> lobbying effort that deluged the Indian government

> with thousands of faxes, phone calls, emails and

> petitions, and more than 300 people around the world

> joined a hunger strike led by Bhopal survivors in

> New Delhi. On June 23rd the Indian government

> finally bowed to pressure and the Ministry of

> Chemicals and Fertilizers announced a " no objection "

> would be sent to the U.S. court.

>

> Also in June in a second court case, the Bhopal

> Chief Judicial Magistrate ordered the Indian branch

> of Dow Chemical to appear in court to show why it

> shouldn't be held responsible for producing Union

> Carbide, which is facing criminal charges of

> manslaughter and is wanted by the court. The

> Magistrate also ordered the Indian Central Bureau of

> Investigation to report by July 19th on its efforts

> to extradite Carbide's former CEO Warren Anderson on

> similar charges.

>

> " This is the first step in putting Dow in the dock

> [on trial] for sheltering Union Carbide from

> criminal liabilities, " said Satinath Sarangi of the

> Bhopal Group for Information and Action. " The

> direction taken by the court is indicative of its

> intent to resolve the long-pending criminal charges

> by forcing Union Carbide to face trial. "

>

> When Dow Chemical purchased Union Carbide in 2001,

> merger documents filed with the U.S. Securities

> Exchange Commission never disclosed that criminal

> charges were pending against Union Carbide in India.

> At the May 2004 Annual General Meeting, Dow CEO

> William Stavropoulos told stockholders, " There was a

> 1989 settlement that resolved all civil, criminal

> charges ... so, from our viewpoint, all

> responsibility from the tragedy that occurred, and

> it was a horrific tragedy -- unbelievably horrific

> tragedy -- has been resolved. " In June 2003, 18 U.S.

> congressional representatives wrote to Stavropoulos

> calling Dow and Carbide's continued avoidance of the

> pending criminal liabilities in Bhopal as a " blatant

> disregard for the law. "

>

> Sources: Detroit Free Press, June 23, 2004; Midland

> Daily News, June 17; PANUPS, May 21, 2004; PANNA

> Corporate Profile: Dow Chemical Company,

>

http://www.panna.org/campaigns/caia/corpProfilesDow.dv.html.

>

> Contact: International Campaign for Justice at

> Bhopal, email: nity68, phone: (011) 91 442

> 446-2401.

>

> PANUPS is a weekly email news service providing

> resource guides and reporting on pesticide issues

> that don't always get coverage by the mainstream

> media. It's produced by Pesticide Action Network

> North America, a non-profit and non-governmental

> organization working to advance sustainable

> alternatives to pesticides worldwide.

>

> You can join our efforts! We gladly accept donations

> for our work and all contributions are tax

> deductible in the United States. Visit

> http://www.panna.org/donate.

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