TOXIC BHOPAL
WATER DELIVERED TO DOW CHEMICALS AROUND THE GLOBE.
3 December 2001
As demonstrations
continued in Bhopal the morning of December 3, 2001, a coalition of Greenpeace
and Bhopal survivors’ groups marked the 17th anniversary of the world’s
worst chemical disaster by collecting contaminated groundwater in Bhopal and
personally delivering it to Dow offices and employees around the world. The
water bottles, labeled "Refreshingly Toxic Bhopal Water: - Available only
in Bhopal and other selected areas", highlight the continued contamination
of groundwater around the site of the disaster, which is still used by up to
5,000 Bhopal families for everyday needs.
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| Bhopal protest at Dow Chemicals, Switzerland © Greenpeace | Bhopal protest outside Dow Chemicals hq, Hong Kong © Greenpeace |
On the midnight of December 2-3, 1984, over half a million people were exposed to a cocktail of poison gases from Union Carbide's pesticide factory. Around 7,500 people died in the immediate wake of the disaster. According to local groups, the current toll of dead has crossed 20,000 and a large number of people continue to suffer from exposure-related chronic illnesses of the lung, eyes, brain, heart, immune, hormonal, reproductive and other systems and are in desperate need of medical attention.
After the accident, Union Carbide abandoned the factory and left hundred of tonnes of chemical wastes which have seeped into the drinking water source of the neighbouring communities. Many people are forced to drink water that contains a cocktail of hazardous chemicals including chlorinated benzenes, chloroform, trichloroethene and carbon tetrachloride. A 1999 study by Greenpeace found contamination levels to be far above US EPA drinking water standards. Carbon tetrachloride was found at levels 682 times higher than standards in the US, chlorinated benzenes at 5-11 times higher, trichloroethene 50 times higher and chloroform more than 20 times above US limits.
In February this year, Union Carbide managed to shed its name by becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of US-based multinational Dow Chemicals. Dow Chemicals purchased Union Carbide for a sum of 9.3 billion USD, thus creating the second largest chemical company in the world.
"Dow
not only bought Union Carbide’s assets but its liability for the Bhopal
tragedy and the environmental disaster which is continuing today. It must take
responsibility for its toxic legacy, rehabilitate and fully compensate survivors
and clean up the hazardous mess that is still poisoning many people in Bhopal,"
said Greenpeace campaigner, Hemant Babu.
In a significant development in the long history of litigation to ensure the chemical industry takes responsibility for Bhopal, on November 15th 2001, the US second circuit court has upheld an appeal the environmental liabilities of Bhopal. Mrs. Rashida Bi, President of the Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh, Bhopal, an organization of women survivors, said: "The US court's decision should make it difficult for Dow to wriggle out of its responsibilities towards Bhopal but a lot depends on people raising hell".
Mr. Balkrishna Namdeo, President of the Nirashrit Gas Peedit Morcha, Bhopal, an organization of survivors in need of social support, appealed for international efforts to stop the "continuing disaster in Bhopal" and make Dow accept its long-term responsibility towards the victims.
Read More:
Background
information on the disaster and the current situation in Bhopal.
Details of the pollution
in the Bhopal well water from the abandoned plant