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CounterPunch
August
21, 2002
Bhopal on $40 a Day
by Romi Mahajan
"Living.
Improved daily."
That's the motto of Dow Chemical--global
giant--the folks that lied about Dioxin, gave us poisonous silicone
implants, and in 2001 merged with Union Carbide, the company
responsible for the worst industrial accident in history--in
Bhopal, India. Behind the spin of the noble motto lies a company
that has done nothing to either promote "living" or
to improve the lives of the literally hundreds of thousands of
poor Indians that have died, been maimed, or otherwise suffered
by its hand.
The night of Dec 2-3, 1984, cannot and
should not be forgotten. That night, 40 tons of the deadly gas
Methyl Isocyanate(MIC) spewed from a Union Carbide pesticide
factory in Bhopal--the cloud of gas engulfed entire wards of
the city; thousands of people died horrible deaths, drowning
in their own bodily fluids, lungs and eyes aflame. Tens of thousands
were maimed that night itself. As time passed, ailments developed
and the drinking water in the gas-affected wards became toxic,
thus producing a continuous and constant set of wracking health
risks. Over the last 18 years, the number of people whose lives
and bodies have been shattered exceeds 200,000. As of today,
30 people die monthly as a result of gas-related ailments and
over 120,000 people are in need of urgent medical care. Of these,
80,000 are too ill to perform manual labor, thereby rendering
them unable to support their families.
The conditions that precipitated the
accident were the results of typically inhumane cost-cutting
efforts by Union Carbide. The proximate cause of that night's
gas leak was the turning off of the refrigeration unit--in
order to save $40 a day. That the plant was of flawed design
and an incredible safety hazard was known to Union Carbide--previous
accidents and a company-performed safety audit finding "61
hazards[including] 11 in the phosgene/MIC units" made the
case very clear--that the plant was a powder keg. Nothing was
done about it.
Hundreds of thousands of people have
paid the price with their lives, their organs, their limbs, their
psyches.
Living. Improved daily.
After the accident, Union Carbide acted
immediately to mitigate financial risk and in keeping with this
to take incredibly cynical steps, including withholding key medical
information on the leaked gas and dispensing unsound medical
advice in order to support their ridiculous claim that MIC was
"nothing more than a potent tear gas." After denying
financial responsibility for years, Union Carbide finally settled
out of court with the Government of India--and agreed to pay
$470 Million. On the day the paltry settlement was announced,
the stock price of Union Carbide shot up $2. Families of the
dead received $1250 and each injured victim got between $400
and $500. Then CEO of Union Carbide Warren Andersen has not answered
the criminal charges brought against him by the Bhopal court
and has not been extradited.
In 1991, India "liberalized"
its economy and ushered in an era of privatization and foreign
investment. Multinational Corporations have been able to extract
a raft of concessions from the Indian Government, which, under
the tutelage of the IMF and similar bodies and with the interests
of India's super-elite classes in mind, has the sole job of creating
a good investment climate. Dow Chemical, a global behemoth with
over 3200 products in the market and over $26.5 Billion in annual
revenues, expressed concern to the Indian Government that their
investment plans in India could be hampered by fear of a transfer
of pending liabilities; in keeping with their Washington-given
mandate, the Government of India has decided to dilute the Bhopal-related
charges to "negligence." As in the case of Enron, the
Indian Government easily caved in to the desires of Dow, a company
that corporate watchdog INFACT says peddles influence with "blatant
disregard for people and the environment." A compromised
government in cahoots with a cynical and recalcitrant corporation-simply
reflective of the incredible absurdity of India's liberalization
plans and of the double standards about the value of human life
that any votaries of liberalization must accept and support,
directly or tacitly.
Living. Improved Daily.
That Dow Chemical acted and continues
to act with malfeasance is clear. So too is the fact that the
Government of India continues to act in disregard of the welfare
of its own citizens. We must therefore join people like Tara
Bai, Rashida Bi, Sathyu Sarangi, and Diane Wilson in fighting
for redress and justice--for the still suffering people of Bhopal.
These brave activists (Tara Bai and Rashida Bi are gas-affected)
have been conducting hunger strikes and crying out for justice.
Immediate demands of the Indian Government
should include fast-tracking the process for extraditing Warren
Anderson, to not dilute the charges and to hold Dow Chemical
responsible for pending medical and environmental rehabilitation
liabilities in Bhopal. Immediate demands of Dow Chemical should
include sending Mr.Warren Andersen to Bhopal, accepting responsibility
for cleaning the contaminated soil and groundwater in the vicinity
of the factory, paying a just level of compensation to the victims
including provisions for long-term are, immediately releasing
all information on the composition of the leaked gases, and paying
for the economic and psychological rehabilitation of the families
affected.
A second set of demands regards Dow's
conduct and ability to sell toxic substances now and in the future.
On June 8, 2000 the EPA banned virtually all home uses of Dursban,
a toxic pesticide made by Dow. Unfortunately, using the double
standards for which Dow and other corporations are so famous,
Dursban is being produced and marketed in India. Any campaign
that truly seeks to memorialize the dead and win redress for
the still living must work to stop Dow's current depredations.
Make these demands by writing to Dow
Chemical and to the Government of India. Don't use Dow products
until Dow complies. Visit www.bhopal.net to find out how to
act now to help the victims in Bhopal.
Far too many --especially the powerful--have
little regard for "ordinary" people, especially the
poor, the non-white, the denizens of the Third World. Appalling
double standards exist. While this has been shown to be true
time and again in overt as well as subtle ways, it really shocks
the senses when we examine the degree. Very simply put, to powerful
companies like Dow--and even unfortunately to the Indian government--Indian
lives are not worth as much as the lives of others. Nowhere even
close.
$40 buys a good meal out for 2 or 3 in
Seattle. $40 a day is what travel guides call inexpensive traveling
in most of Asia. In Midland, Michigan (Corporate HQ) $40 dollars
buys you a bit more than one share of Dow Chemical stock. $40
a day in Bhopal--the price to run the Bhopal factory's refrigeration
unit--could have saved 200,000+ people from death, disfigurement,
chronic health ailments, and psychological trauma.
Death. Dispensed daily.
Information on ongoing action and demands
can be found at (www.bhopal.net
and www.corpwatchindia.org.
Information from these sites has been used widely in this piece.)
On August 27, the Bhopal Magistrates court will hear the case
regarding the Government of India's application to dilute the
charges. There are only 6 days to act!
Romi Mahajan
lives in Redmond, Washington and can be reached at: romimahajan2000@yahoo.com
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