“When we protest against the government and demand clean water, the government slaps cases against us”

With the Supreme Court directing the Bhopal Municipal Corporation to provide clean water to the areas worst affected by the Union Carbide gas leak within three months, the victims are hoping for better days ahead. The Supreme Court has also set up a committee to monitor the progress.

“We are thankful to the court for paying heed to our misery and asking the government to do its duty, which it has failed to do for the past 27 years,” Shehzadee Bi of Blue Moon Colony, one of the 14 affected localities, said.

Yellowish water

“The water we get here is yellowish in colour with a flat, heavy taste to it. It leaves tough stains on utensils and results in corrosion, leaving holes in the bottom. There are some girls in my neighbourhood who have been rendered infertile due to the toxicity in the water supplied here. Once the word spread, no one is willing to marry them,” she said.

“But when we protest against the government and demand clean water, the government slaps cases against, charging us with attempted suicide to disrupting law and order,” she added.

“We welcome the judgment and hope it is implemented. Or else, we will continue our struggle. It is a part of our lives now,” said Lakshmi, a resident of Prem Nagar.

According to Rachna Dhingra of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action (BGIA) that will be represented in the Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee: “It is not a difficult thing to achieve — providing clean drinking water to some thousand people. After all the government does that for crores of people across the State. It is a question of political will and a propensity of the government to ignore the poor.”

“During a Kumbh mela or an Iztema, the government proves it has the resources and efficiency to provide drinking water to lakhs of people within days. So why does it continue to discriminate against the victims?” she sought to know. “Now, with the monitoring committee, we hope things will change.”

Toxins galore

Tests done by several agencies — governmental and independent, from State-level laboratories to national and international organisations — have repeatedly confirmed the presence of Carbaryl (Sevin), Endosulfan, Chlorobenzene, dichlorobenzene, Aldrin, DDT, lead and mercury among others in the water samples from localities around the factory.

More prominent among these, the reports by the Centre for Science and Environment and the Central Pollution Control Board have confirmed “excessive groundwater contamination” and “chronic toxicity” which leads to slow and continuous poisoning over an extended period of time to those exposed.

Keywords: Bhopal gas leak tragedy, Supreme Court order, Madhya Pradesh government, clean drinking water, gas victims

CHENNAI: Victims and survivors of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy have written to the Prime Minister asking him to register his protest with the UK government for accepting Dow Chemical’s sponsorship for the 2012 Olympics to be held in London.
Social activists, including from Chennai, and the survivors have shot off a similar letter to the Indian Olympic Association too.
They are also readying a petition to be signed by Olympians asking the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games to reject the sponsorship.
Dow Chemicals, which bought the Union Carbide factory in 2001, refuses to accept the legal liability inherited from the takeover. Dow, which is the Worldwide Olympic Partner and the official chemistry company of the Olympic movement, will produce a sustainable ‘wrap’ that will surround the Olympic Stadium. It will be design ed by international design practice agency, Populous.
“The sponsorship of Dow Chemicals is against the sp irit of the Olympics charter,” said Rachna Dhingra of Bhopal Group for Information and Action.
“Olympics charter speaks about prohibition of racism but the company that provides sponsorship for the event practices racism in its business,” she said. While Dow Chemicals has accepted to the legal liabilities of Union Carbide in the US, it refuses to accept liabilities in India, she said. “Isn’t this racism?” she asked.
According to Rachna, Dow has settled liabilities of asbestos-related pollution and health problems in 10 different instances in the United Staters.
Meanwhile, tonnes of toxic waste continue to pollute Bhopal’s water and environment.

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/4b245556-c2ae-11e0-8cc7-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1UhNtIsb2

By Vanessa Kortekaas in London and Girija Shivakumar in New Delhi
Anger is mounting in India at the appointment of Dow Chemical as a 2012 Olympics sponsor, marking the fiercest criticism yet of the London committee’s sponsorship programme.
The London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (Locog) recently selected Dow to produce a sustainable fabric “wrap” for the Olympic stadium that will display digital images. This is Dow’s first engagement with the 2012 games since signing a 10-year agreement with the International Olympic Committee last year to become a worldwide Olympic partner.
However, activists such as Satinath Sarangi of the Bhopal Group for Action and Information say that allowing Dow to sponsor the London Olympics “legitimises” the company’s links to the 1984 Bhopal chemical disaster, which killed at least 8,000 people.
In 1999 Dow Chemical bought Union Carbide – the company that was running the plant in India when a gas leak quickly became one of the world’s worst industrial accidents. Locog has stressed that “it is a matter of record that the plant at the time of this human tragedy was not owned by Dow Chemical”.
But campaigners, who put the death toll from the accident as high as 25,000, say they are planning protests in Bhopal, New Delhi and London. They are also asking the Indian government to officially protest against Locog’s decision.
Activists from the Bhopal Group for Action and Information are on Thursday sending a letter to Manmohan Singh, Indian prime minister, and the IOC, asking for their support.
Mannish Tiwari, a Congress party MP in India, said if the families of Bhopal victims approached the government with concerns about Dow’s role in the Olympics, it would “surely” look into the matter.
Activists are circulating a petition among athletes in India proposing to boycott the 2012 Olympics if Dow retains its sponsorship – a move which is said to have drawn support from former world hockey champion, Aslam Sher Khan.
Vinuta Gopal, a campaigner for Greenpeace India, the environmental lobby group, said: “When Dow Chemical has not addressed their responsibilities in Bhopal they simply should not be associated with an event like the Olympics.”
Locog said that Dow was only appointed as the supplier of the estimated £7m Olympic stadium wrap after a “rigorous procurement process”, adding: “All of our suppliers must work within our own sustainable sourcing code and reflect our values and sustainability requirements.”
Dow Chemical said: “Although Dow never owned nor operated the plant and the legal claims surrounding the incident were resolved in 1989, long before Dow acquired Union Carbide, we – along with the rest of industry – have learned from this tragic event, and have helped to drive global industry performance improvements to ensure that such incidents never happen again. While the past must never be forgotten, our position as a Worldwide Olympic Partner represents our vision for the future.”

http://www.firstpost.com/world/olympics-organisers-have-forgotten-what-they-stand-for-56805.html

Have you ever heard of a company called Palomar Pomerado Health? No? I hadn’t either, till yesterday.
Their website says that “Palomar Pomerado Health receives hundreds of requests each year to financially sponsor events: street fairs, luncheons, galas, rotaries, chambers of commerce etc. In order for us to promptly and appropriately process your organization’s request, we ask that you read the following information. Our goal is to ensure that you receive a timely response.”
Approval for requests depends on several factors, says the website, and I list some of them.
• The sponsorship activity must be consistent with the values, purpose and goals of PPH.
• Any sponsorship agreement must not compromise the professional standards and ethics of the PPH organisation.
• Direct sponsorship agreements will only be negotiated with organisations whose public image, products and services are consistent with the values, purpose, goals and specific policies of PPH.
• Any company or organizsation whose name is associated with the manufacture, distribution or sale of tobacco products, alcoholic beverages, pornography or armaments is not regarded as an appropriate sponsor. This would not necessarily preclude involvement with local supermarkets and other businesses provided that their name is not linked to inappropriate products.
• When considering an organisation as a potential sponsor, PPH will evaluate the appropriateness of: the type of products or services the organization markets, the marketing methods used, and its public image as an employer.
Palomar Pomerado Healthcare, an organisation none of us had heard of till this moment, is concerned about the negative rub-off if they chose to sponsor an activity which is found inconsistent with the ‘values, purposes and goals’ of the organisation.
The sponsorship should not ‘compromise the professional standards and ethics’ of PPH.
PPH will ‘evaluate the appropriateness of the public image as an employer’.
PPH seems more worried about the cost of association with a poor brand than the London 2012 Olympic Games Organising Committee (LOGOC) in the context of their decision to accept Dow Chemicals as a partner.
Other (worldwide) partners include Coca-Cola, Acer, GE, McDonalds, Omega, Panasonic, P&G, Samsung and Visa.
How do they see London 2012’s association with Dow, one wonders?
In one fell swoop, all the attention is focused on a single newcomer, a Johnny-come-lately in the Olympic sponsorship arena. Coke and McDonalds have been sponsors for multiple Games, and have reaped the benefits of the association.
Sporting events, worldwide, have attracted dodgy brands with questionable credentials, and ethics issues have been raised time and again.
Tobacco and alcohol brands were the first to be targeted – F1, for example.
“Although tobacco companies have been the main source of financial backing in Formula One, some alcohol brands have also been associated with the sport. For example, Budweiser appears on the WilliamsF1 car and the Foster’s Group (with the Foster’s Lager brand) sponsor numerous circuits around the world, most notably Fosters Australian Grand Prix in Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia. Becks had been Jaguar’s sponsor. Johnnie Walker has sponsored McLaren since 2006,” says Wikipedia.
When the money is easy, forget the conscience, sports organisers seem to say.
We’ve seen the absence of conscience closer to home, with the Sahara group’s logo emblazoned on the shirts of the Indian cricket team. Invest in Sahara at your own risk, says the Indian Express, but the BCCI couldn’t care too much.
The important point to note is that the F1 and the BCCI, in the two illustrations that we’ve seen, are private, for-profit organisations, while the Olympic Games is not.
Sporting events, worldwide, have attracted dodgy brands with questionable credentials, and ethics issues have been raised time and again. AFP
Here’s what the first two points in latest Olympic charter say:
1. Olympism is a philosophy of life, exalting and combining in a balanced whole the qualities of body, will and mind. Blending sport with culture and education, Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy of effort, the educational value of good example, social responsibility and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles.
2. The goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of humankind, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity.
Let’s quote from the Charter:
“the educational value of good example, social responsibility and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles.”
“to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity.”
In accepting the sponsorship from Dow, has the LOGOC forgotten to read the very beginning of their own charter?
Or is the money just too tempting?

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/bhopal-drug-trials-conducted-on-gas-victims/173624-3.html

Bhopal: Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre has been carrying out clinical trials on gas victims. CNN-IBN has accessed documents that show that at least 80 per cent of the patients on whom trials were conducted, were victims of the gas tragedy.

What was suspected and alleged so far is confirmed now. The multi-specialty hospital set up for gas victims conducted unethical drug trials on 279 patients of whom 215 were gas victims. These figures have come from a letter written by the Hospital’s director Brigadier KK Maudar to the deputy drug controller of India, Dr R Ramakrishna on February 22, 2011. The letter also gives a break up of the drug trials

In the Cardiology Department, trials were conducted on 218 patients out of which 160 were gas victims. In the GI surgery Department, trials were conducted on 49 patients, out of which 45 were gas victims. In the Pulmonary Medicine Department, trials were conducted on 49 patients and all of them were gas victims.

Finally in the Anesthesiology Department, trials were conducted on seven patients and five out of the seven were gas victims.

The Indian Council for Medical Research in its ethical guidelines for biomedical research on human participants has categorically said that adequate justification is required for involvement of those with reduced autonomy. In Bhopal, no such justification has been offered. In fact, the hospital first denied that the drug trials were conducted on gas victims.

CNN-IBN had first reported about the unethical drug trials in June 2010 following which an enquiry was constituted. At that time, the hospital had denied conducting any of those trials on gas victims. Now CNN-IBN has accessed documents which reveal that 34 patients were chosen for the trial of the drug Tigecycline. Two patients out of the 34 died and both were gas victims.

It also reveals that 34 patients were chosen for the trial of the drug Fondaparinux. Five patients out of the 34 died and all of them were gas victims. Seven patients were chosen for the trial of the drug Telavancin. Three patients out of the 7 died and all were gas victims.

In the information furnished to the Directorate General of Health services, the hospital said that it does not have any information on if and how the consent from the patients was obtained.

The hospital in its communication with the Directorate General of Health services has accepted the fact all those who died during the trials were gas victims but refused to give their names and addresses. Those working to expose the unethical business of drug trials on gas victims have been demanding action against the hospital authorities.

According to an estimate, clinical trials in India are heading towards a whopping Rs 3000 crore business. Ethics in such a scenario are of little concern and the emphasis is on speedy trial of drugs to get the product launched.

Joel Taylor – 4th August, 2011

London 2012 Olympics sponsor Dow: don’t judge us on Bhopal deaths
The Dow Chemical Company, which has links to the infamous Bhopal chemical disaster, has defended its plans to sponsor the £7 million Olympic stadium ‘wrap’.

The wrap, which will be seen by 4billion TV viewers, was scrapped to save money in the government’s October spending review. But Dow stepped in to finance it, provoking condemnation from many quarters, particularly from India.

In 1999, Dow merged with the Union Carbide Corporation, whose subsidiary firm Union Carbide India was in charge of the Bhopal chemical plant when disaster struck.

About 11,000 people died as a direct result of the leak of gas from it in 1984. Relatives and survivors have been struggling for years to win apologies and damages.

But Dow UK’s managing director Keith Wiggins yesterday said it should not be judged on the ‘awful legacies’ of the past.

He said: ‘It’s acknowledged the industry has made mistakes in the past. But the world without good chemistry in the future would be a poorer place.’

The wrap will have 336 individual panels, each of which will be 25m high and 2.5m wide. Installation is set to begin next spring.

It was designed to provide an eye-catching and colourful curtain around the steel girders, breeze blocks and seating of the £486million venue.

London 2012 chairman Lord Coe said: ‘The stadium will look spectacular at Games time and having the wrap is the icing on the cake.’

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-08-04/nagpur/29849758_1_toxic-waste-toxic-material-nagpur

NAGPUR: City MP Vilas Muttemwar has opposed the proposal to dispose of in Nagpur the toxic waste from Union Carbide plant site in Bhopal. Raising the issue in Parliament, he has also sought a clear-cut policy on disposal of toxic waste in the country.

Taking up the matter in Lok Sabha under rule 377, Muttemwar said the proposal to transport the toxic waste from Bhopal to the DRDO facility on the outskirts of Nagpur was fraught with danger. “This is nothing but injustice to people of Nagpur and Vidarbha where pollution levels are already high because of a large number of thermal power stations.

“It is surprising how such a move can be justified. Presumably, the government wants to rid Bhopal of toxic waste, but transporting the dangerous material and incinerating in Nagpur would have hazardous implications for people in and around Nagpur,” said Muttemwar. The whole exercise could lead to catastrophic health problems, he added.

Dinesh C. Sharma  | New Delhi, July 25, 2011 | Updated 08:44 IST

More skeletons relating to the handling of the Bhopal gas tragedy are tumbling out of the Indian government’s cupboard. New revelations show that Union Carbide mooted the idea of a “negotiated settlement” within weeks of the gas leak that took place in its Bhopal plant in December 1984.

Not only this, it also decided on the quantum of compensation to be paid to victims as part of the settlement. In exchange, it sought exemption from any liability. The idea found ready acceptance in the Rajiv Gandhi government.

While getting the government engaged with the idea of a settlement in 1985, Carbide also cleverly outlined the “categories of claims” for the injured.

Camouflaging the fact that the leak would have long-term health effects, Carbide proposed four categories of injuries which ignored multifarious lifelong as well as inter-generational health impact of MIC gas. The government used the same classification in 1987 in its petition in the court and also in the negotiated settlement it had with Carbide in 1989.

Worse, the same 1985 classification was used by the government in the civil curative petition it filed in the Supreme Court in December 2010 for enhancement of compensation.

According to the curative petition, the world’s worst industrial disaster had just 42 victims under the category of “utmost severe cases”. The petition is likely to come up for hearing next month. The picture on how the idea of a negotiated settlement emerged was made clear after documents were obtained under RTI and made public in Bhopal on Saturday.

A scrutiny of the papers shows that a top Carbide functionary, Rolf H. Towe, along with the Indian subsidiary’s managing director, V. P. Gokhale, proposed the negotiated settlement in a meeting with B. B. Singh, who was the chemicals and fertilisers secretary on February 28, 1985.

According to the minutes of the top secret meeting, Singh was told that Carbide chief Warren Anderson had already met the Indian ambassador on this matter in Washington and had been told that “the Government of India had an open mind on the issue” but would like Carbide to take the first step.

Following the meeting, Carbide made a formal proposal on March 4, 1985, stating that it was “intended at avoiding protracted litigation in India or in the US by or on behalf of the claimants”. The proposal contemplated “the payment of a predetermined fixed sum or money by UCIL and UCC to the central government”. Carbide arbitrarily chose the Railways Act for fixing the amount to be paid for deaths and injuries arising because of the gas disaster, overlooking the fact that the havoc caused by a gas leak was in no way comparable to a railway accident.

The Union Carbide plant in Bhopal.

The most shocking part of the Carbide offer was this: it clearly stated that “in exchange (of the settlement), UCIL and UCC will require that all claims by Indian citizens, corporations, partnerships or other entities arising out of, or connected with, the Bhopal gas leak disaster against either or both of them, their affiliates, directors, officers and employees to be fully released and extinguished in all respects”. Instead of rejecting such an offer for indemnity from claims, the chemicals and fertilisers ministry accepted the proposal.

It is this process that finally led to a settlement in the Supreme Court six years later and freed Carbide of any liability in India. “The injury categories assigned to victims by Carbide were unscientific.

The Indian government introduced the same categories and paid the minimum amount of Rs 25,000 as compensation to 94 per cent of the victims with lifelong injuries,” said Satinath Sarangi of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action, which obtained the documents under RTI. Sarangi said the same mistakes were being repeated in the curative plea filed now, which has not asked for compensation for damages caused to the next generation.

The petition seeks enhancement of the amount to Rs 6,000 crore, while calculations made by the Bhopal groups – based on ICMR data – put the figure close to Rs 37,000 crore or $ 8.1 billion.

What Carbide proposed in 1985 and govt obliged

• A negotiated settlement instead of compensation based on victims’ claims
• Payment of money to Indian government & not directly to victims
• Compensation of Rs 1 lakh for every death
• Unscientific injury categories which assigned most victims to ‘temporary injury’ category
• Petty compensation of Rs 25,000 for people who suffered lifelong injuries
• Medical facility and trust fund for future injuries

Wire News provided by

Vaibhav Ganjapure, TNN Jul 22, 2011, 12.27am IST