The BHOPAL DISASTER, the world’s worst-ever industrial catastrophe, has never ended. Even 20 years later, the people of Bhopal, India, continue to suffer and die because of Dow-Carbide’s gas and the poisons it left behind…
Join us in taking action against Dow´s corporate crimes on the 20th anniversary of the world´s worst corporate massacre
December 3rd, 2004, marks twenty years since the people of Bhopal awoke from their sleep, choking, near-blinded, to scenes of unimaginable horror and suffering. Overnight, a city of 800,000 people was turned into a gas chamber, with at least 8,000 dead.
Union Carbide´s gas cloud was just the beginning. The ongoing efforts of both Union Carbide and its new owner Dow Chemical to evade their pending liabilities in Bhopal represent a classic case of corporate crime gone unpunished.
As in Bhopal, corporations around the world are today getting away with crimes against humanity and the environment, and dictating policies that affect all life on earth. Communities everywhere have learnt that the only way they will regain control of their lives and health is by fighting corporate crime directly.
Over twenty years, the survivors of Union Carbide´s massacre, beset by extreme poverty, debilitated by illness and loss, starved of justice, have refused to accept defeat. Instead, against almost insuperable odds, they have carried on an unrelenting fight for justice and a disease-free, dignified life.
Its a fight they can still win. The twenty-year-long struggle for justice in Bhopal, and numerous other people´s struggles around the world, demonstrate an extraordinary resilience and carry the indomitable hope that corporate globalisation can be reversed by the solidarity of public interest groups, individuals and people`s organisations.
We will never forget
«We never want to see another Bhopal.» Bhopal´s survivors have said this from the beginning. To ensure this, it is vital that Dow Chemical, and other corporate offenders, are not allowed to get away with their crimes. On Dec 3rd, 2004 the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal invites you to help make sure that they don´t.
To: The Dow Chemical Company
The BHOPAL DISASTER, the world’s worst-ever industrial catastrophe, has never ended.
Even 20 years later, the people of Bhopal, India, continue to suffer and die because of Dow-Carbide’s gas and the poisons it left behind.
PLEASE JOIN THEIR STRUGGLE BY SIGNING THIS PETITION.
I support the struggle for justice of the people of Bhopal.
More than 20,000 innocent people have already died and 120,000 are suffering today from health effects (see www.bhopal.org) related to their gas exposure. It was Union Carbide’s cost-cutting that turned Bhopal into a gas chamber and it’s the responsibility of Carbide’s new owner, Dow Chemical, to resolve the outstanding legal and moral obligations it has in Bhopal.
I´M OUTRAGED THAT:
- There was no siren and no warning–people woke with the gases already in their faces, filling their mouths, noses and lungs with excruciating pain.
- NONE of safety systems were functioning on the night of the disaster—six in all.
- Union Carbide under-invested in an inherently hazardous facility located in a crowded neighborhood, used admittedly unproven designs, stored lethal MIC in reckless quantities, dismantled safety systems and cut down on safety staff and training in an effort to cut costs.
- Union Carbide and its new owner, Dow Chemical, continue to blame the disaster on a fictitious and unnamed worker, and deny their own negligence.
- In the wake of the disaster, Carbide claimed that the gas was harmless, when it knew it was lethal (as described in its own manuals).
- Dow-Carbide refuses to share all its medical information about the health effects of the gas it released, MIC–information that doctors could use to save lives–claiming the information is a “trade secret”.
- Union Carbide fled India and abandoned its Bhopal plant, leaving thousands of tons of dangerous chemicals behind, which are now poisoning the water of the same people Carbide first poisoned 20 years ago. As more people grow sick, Dow-Carbide still refuses to clean up its pollution in Bhopal.
- The Union Carbide Corporation, charged criminally with “culpable homicide” in the wake of the disaster, has refused to appear in court or stand trial. Union Carbide is now an international fugitive from justice, considered an “absconder” under Indian law.
Bhopal remains one of the world´s worst examples of corporate crime, but the people of Bhopal continue to persevere in their call for justice. I’m joining Bhopal’s survivors by calling on Dow to:
1. Face Trial: Ensure that prime accused Warren Anderson, former chairman of Union Carbide ceases absconding from criminal justice in India and the authorized representatives of the company [Dow-Union Carbide] face trial in the Bhopal criminal court.
2. Provide Long Term Health Care: Assume responsibility for the continuing and long term health consequences among the exposed persons and potentially their future generations. This includes medical care, health monitoring and necessary research studies. The company must provide all information on the leaked gases and their medical consequences.
3. Clean Up The Poison: Remove the contamination of the ground water and soil in and around the abandoned Union Carbide factory in Bhopal. Provide for supply of safe drinking water to the community.
4. Provide Economic and Social Support: Dow must provide income opportunities to victims who can not pursue their usual trade as a result of exposure-induced illnesses and income support to families rendered destitute due to death or incapacitation of the breadwinner of the family.
I may also become involved in the campaign by visiting https://www.bhopal.net/ and bhopal.org.
Sincerely,