Bhopal
Survivors Start
Indefinite Fast in New York
NEW YORK, 1 May, 2003 --
Two women survivors -- Rasheeda Bee and Champa Devi -- and long-time
Bhopal activist, Satinath Sarangi, of the International Campaign for
Justice in Bhopal (ICJB) launched an indefinite fast from New York's
financial district to highlight the truth behind Dow Chemical and Union
Carbide's liabilities in Bhopal. In 1984, a poisonous gas leak from
Union Carbide's pesticide factory killed 8000 in a matter of days. Survivors
continue to suffer long-term health effects, and Carbide's toxic wastes
strewn around the factory are a source of ongoing contamination and
injury.
"Dow has acquired Carbide's
pending criminal and environmental liabilities in Bhopal that could
be substantial in dollar terms. By refusing to acknowledge and address
these liabilities, the company is prolonging the suffering of survivors
and their children, and keeping its shareholders in the dark regarding
issues that could significantly erode share value," ICJB said.
"A hunger strike is
our way of emphasising the truth that the tragedy in Bhopal continues,
and that Dow as Carbide's new owner is now responsible for ensuring
that justice is done in Bhopal," said Rasheeda Bee of the Bhopal
Gas Affected Women Stationery Workers Association. Forty six-year old
Bee has lost five gas-exposed family members to cancers since the disaster.
Partially blinded, she suffers psychiatric and respiratory problems
due to exposure to Carbide's gases. Eight days into the hunger strike,
the Bhopal activists will visit Midland, Michigan, to demonstrate outside
the Dow shareholders meeting on 8 May.
At least 30 other people,
including 24 students from
Massachusetts-based Wheaton College, and long-time Bhopal supporters
from India and the United States fasted in solidarity today. The worldwide
relay fast is expected to attract hundreds of people from around the
world to join in protest against Dow Chemical. A similar fast begun
last July lasted more than a month and involved 1500 people from 10
countries. ICJB has declared May 8 as the day of mass action including
hunger strikes organised by allies around the world.
In February 2001, Dow Chemical
acquired Union Carbide. Carbide currently faces criminal charges for
manslaughter in a Bhopal court for the deaths of more than 8,000 people
in Bhopal, India, due to a poisonous gas leak from its pesticide factory
in December 1984. The company has never appeared in court.
Dow Chemical has denied having
inherited any of Carbide's pending Bhopal liabilities. Meanwhile, the
Indian Central Bureau of Investigation will report to the Bhopal court
on progress made in including Dow as an accused in the criminal case
against Carbide by 30 May. If found guilty, Indian criminal law allows
for the imposition of fines against the accused.
"Under Indian law, the
fines for manslaughter have no upper limit,
and is determined by the size and ability of the accused party to
pay, the magnitude of the crime, and the current state of the
victims," said Satinath Sarangi of the Bhopal Group for Information
and Action. Dow is the world's largest chemical corporation with annual
sales exceeding $30 billion. Billed as the world's worst industrial
disaster, the Bhopal tragedy injured 500,000 people, and survivors and
their children are impoverished and continue to suffer drastic long-term
effects in the absence of economic rehabilitation measures and appropriate
medical care. According to latest official estimates, 380 gas-affected
people succumb to health effects each year, and more than 20,000 are
exposed to the toxic wastes lying in
and around the Union Carbide factory site in Bhopal.
On April 25, 2003, survivors
and survivors' organisations appealed a recent decision by the New York
District Court to dismiss their claims for clean-up and compensation
for contamination-related damages from Carbide. The State Government
of Madhya Pradesh too has stated that it plans to approach the Indian
Supreme Court in a bid to get Dow to clean up the toxic wastes left
behind by its subsidiary Union Carbide.
Separately, various communities
impacted by Dow's pollution,
including an African American community in Plaquemine, Louisiana, the
Vietnam veterans, and the residents of Saginaw county near Dow's Midland
headquarters, are seeking redressal for environmental and health damages
due to Dow products or facilities. In fact, a stockholder has proposed
a resolution at Dow's 2003 AGM asking the company to report to shareholders
on identifying potential liabilities related to the company's operations,
given the company's historical and ongoing engagement in processes known
to produce or
release persistent toxic substances such as dioxins. The proposal stems
from findings of high levels of dioxin contamination in Midland and
surrounding areas.
"Dow has a lot of Bhopals
in its closet. Dow's failure to address its responsibilities to communities
is clearly an issue of environmental justice, because its pollution
has disproportionately impacted poor communities worldwide, and communities
of color in the United States," said Gary Cohen, director of Boston-based
Environmental Health Fund and a member of the ICJB.
The visiting survivors and
members of the ICJB have sought a meeting with Dow Chairman William
Stavropoulos on 8 May to press their demands that: Dow should arrange
for long-term economic and medical rehabilitation and medical monitoring;
for clean-up of toxic wastes and contaminated groundwater; and face
trial in the Indian courts.
For more information, visit:
www.bhopal.net
In the US:
Nityanand Jayaraman. Cell: 520 906 5216.
Email:[email protected]
Krishnaveni G. Cell: 832 444 1731. [email protected]
In the UK:
Tim Edwards. Email: [email protected]
In Bhopal, India:
Rachna Dhingra. Email: [email protected]