NO MORE BHOPALS - MAKE POLLUTERS PAY

3 December 1999

NEW DELHI -- In a demonstration marking the 15th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster, Greenpeace activists dressed in black shrouds and death masks delivered a four metre wooden model of the infamous Union Carbide factory with the message 'No More Bhopals' to Indian parliamentarians.

"Fifteen years after one of the world's worst industrial disasters occurred, virtually no legal and implementation infrastructure has been developed to prevent corporations from getting away with murder. Even today, we see a thousand Bhopals happening in slow motion in countries around the world. On the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster, we are calling upon the world governments to develop the measures required to ensure that there are no more Bhopals," said Nityanand Jayaraman, Greenpeace Asia Toxics campaigner based in India

Earlier this week, Greenpeace and Bhopal-based survivors organisations released "The Bhopal Legacy" report which concluded that the toxic wastes left behind by Union Carbide at its factory site in Bhopal has resulted in extensive, and in some places, severe contamination with toxic heavy metals and organic compounds. The report also found that the poisons dumped in the factory have percolated into the groundwater supplying the communities of gas victims living around the factory site.

"The fact that Union Carbide's victims are still awaiting justice and continue to be poisoned by the toxic wastes left behind by Union Carbide at the factory site exposes the inability or unwillingness of governments to rein in polluters and make them pay," said Nityanand Jayaraman.

Greenpeace today presented a memorandum to Indian parliamentarians urging them to:

1) Demand Union Carbide to clean up the toxic wastes left behind at their factory site in Bhopal.

2) Develop the legal and technical infrastructure to ensure that Polluters Pay, and that corporations are held fully liable in the event of pollution or disasters.

3) Develop a waste prevention policy framework which promotes waste avoidance and reduction rather than environmental dumping.

4) Set binding long-term goals to ensure zero discharge of hazardous chemicals.

Greenpeace also presented its findings from the Bhopal survey to the Indian Government with a note assuring them of support in their endeavours to make Union Carbide or its successor pay to clean up the contaminated factory site.

On 25th November, Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior arrived in India to launch the Toxic Free Asia tour, which will take the ship through several Asian countries to expose toxic hotspots and their respective polluters, and demand for the development of a comprehensive global mechanism to make Polluters Pay.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

- Nityanand Jayaraman Mobile Tel: 09820194022 and,
- Shailendra Yashwant, Campaign/Media Liaison in India, Mobile Tel: 09820182304 or Office +11-4313458

Go to our Toxic Free Asia Tour site for more information.