December 3, 2004
Dow chemical given poison well water to mark mass Bhopal deaths
Agence France Presse

A group of activists on Friday delivered to Dow Chemical a container of poisoned well water from the Bhopal gas disaster site to mark the 20th anniversary of the world's worst industrial accident in India.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A group of activists on Friday delivered to Dow Chemical a container of poisoned well water from the Bhopal gas disaster site to mark the 20th anniversary of the world's worst industrial accident in India.

Chanting "we want justice now," the group of environmentalists, lawyers, doctors and human rights campaigners demanded the US chemical giant accept responsibility for the tragedy, compensate victims and help clean up the site.

The contaminated water was delivered to the office of former US Commerce Secretary Barbara Franklin, a long serving board member of Dow Chemical, at the Watergate building in Washington.

Thousands of people were killed when 40 tonnes of lethal methyl isocyanate gas leaked from a pesticide plant in the central Indian city of Bhopal in one of the world's worst environmental disasters on December 3, 1984.

The plant belonged to an American company Union Carbide, which has been taken over in 2001 by Dow Chemical.

Two decades after the incident, the site remains contaminated with toxic chemicals and environmental groups led by Greenpeace claim poisoned well water is being consumed by slum dwellers and villagers living around the area.

"Barbara Franklin has the power to tell Dow what to do and to do the right thing now -- after 20 years," said Rick Hind, a legal director with Greenpeace.

Hind handed over the container of contaminated water to security guards, who refused to allow him into the building to meet with Franklin.

"Dow cannot run away from its responsibility and we are here to send them a very strong signal that it could be 20 years, it could be 200 years, we will come after you," said T. Kumar, advocacy director with rights group Amnesty International.

He urged the Bush administration to ensure that Union Carbide executives, against whom criminal charges had been filed in India, present themselves in that country to face justice.

"The US government should enforce the legal system and send them to face justice," Kumar said, vowing to raise the issue with US legislators.

Amnesty has issued a lengthy report on the incident, saying it had identified "a pattern of serious failures" over safety by Union Carbide ahead of the leak, as well as subsequent attempts to frustrate survivors before courts in both the United States and India.

On the Dow Chemical website Friday, the company maintained its longtime refusal to shoulder further blame, arguing it had already concluded a 470-million-dollar compensation settlement with the New Delhi government in 1989.

Kumar said India should reexamine the deal struck with the company and take action against officials behind for the "unfair" settlement.

According to the Indian government, at least 15,000 people have died from illness resulting from the Union Carbide disaster.

Amnesty International said this week the tragedy and resulting illnesses such as cancer had claimed 22,000 to 25,000 lives. Indian local victims' rights activists put the figure as high as 30,000.

Vineeta Gupta, an Indian medical doctor and human rights activist, said Dow Chemical had not given the composition of the gas that emanated from the illfated plant, making it difficult for medical groups to treat the victims.

Many survivors, mainly slumdwellers who were living around the plant, still suffer from illnesses including cancer, gynaecological problems and tuberculosis, as well as poor eyesight and breathing problems.

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