Dow Chemical acquired Union Carbide as a wholly owned subsidiary in 2001. They are therefore responsible for the clean-up of the former Union Carbide Factory site in Bhopal, India. The area around the factory is densely populated and continues to be heavily contaminated by chemicals and toxins produced by the factory which Dow, despite their evident responsibility, have thus far refused to clean up.
The situation in Bhopal is a humanitarian and environmental catastrophe that continues to affect tens of thousands of people today.
The organisers of the Olympic Games claim that they are commited to organising a sustainable and environmentally friendly event. It is therefore completely unacceptable for Dow Chemical to be partnered with the London Olympic Games, and the wider International Olympic Organisation.
For more information on the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, go to bhopal.net
Suffolk-based artist and activist Ziggy Norton’s latest work twins the the Olympic Park in Stratford, East London with the abandoned Union Carbide factory in Bhopal.
We caught up with Ziggy to ask him about the inspiration behind his painting.
When did you first hear about the Bhopal gas disaster?
When I was still at school, I was around 13/14 years old and I remember watching the television news reports. In particular I remember a woman and her baby lying dead in the middle of the road, they had been trying to escape the poisonous gas. It’s a vision that has stayed with me all these years.
What are you’re thoughts on the Olympic sponsorship?
I heard nothing more about the disaster after school, but more recently found out that India are thinking of pulling out from competing in the Olympics. I wanted to know why and read all the information I could about it.
After the mess that was left, I was horrified to find out that the same company who are supposed to be responsible for clear up operation at Bhopal, are sponsoring the Olympics.
I find it hard to think about the Olympics now without thinking about Bhopal. The two are linked in my head.
What inspired your painting?
The picture stemmed from travelling to and from London on the train. I would pass the Olympic site being built in Stratford. As it was under construction, with basic structures and frameworks, it came together in my imagination and that’s how I visualised my art.
Thanks Ziggy!
Ziggy frequently uses his art to raise awareness of various causes. He is particularly interested in nuclear and environmental hazards. Other work includes a piece linking Suffolk’s Sizewell Nuclear power station with Chernobyl.
Please support The Bhopal Medical Appeal by staying in touch with us on Facebook or Twitter. You can also join us on YouTube and Flickr and if you want to support the work of our clinics you can visit our Donate page. Thanks!
The Bhopal Medical Appeal is pleased to welcome Collins Solicitors’ support for 2012 as the law firm’s Charity of the Year.
Collins Solicitors is a leading UK civil litigation law firm which has had tremendous success in supporting groups of people seek justice through the courts in difficult circumstances.
Some of the cases Collins Solicitors has worked on include:
- Successfully representing 18 victims and their families in the landmark personal injury group action against Corby Borough Council in an epic 11-year battle. The case was brought on behalf of children born with birth defects as a result of their pregnant mothers’ proximity to a contaminated former steelworks site in Corby, and the associated toxic materials. Few law firms have successfully brought a group – or ‘class’ – action through the UK courts to the satisfactory conclusion of all clients.
- Representing over 270 people following the largest peace-time explosion in Western Europe since WWII at the Buncefield oil depot in 2005. The firm worked with affected families and businesses to make a claim against the site owner and reached an appropriate settlement for damages to property and businesses, loss of earnings and compensation for different mental and physical distress.
- On behalf of local residents at a residential site in Motherwell, Scotland to determine the extent of toxic poisoning at a former MoD / heavy industrial site.
Des Collins, Senior Partner at Collins, comments: “The events in Bhopal in 1984 – and ever since – were horrendous. Many of our clients are victims of environmental problems and negligence and find themselves battling the authorities in extremely difficult circumstances. We see a number of parallels between our work and that of the charity and we are delighted to support the Bhopal Medical Appeal this year.”
Collins Solicitors intends to raise funds for the Bhopal Medical Appeal; to host events and to volunteer for the Charity. In addition the firm hopes to help support the Bhopali Survivors Tour that will take place in September.
We’re really pleased to have Collins adopt us as their charity of the year. Collins has fought some extremely important cases over the years, and ones that represent a similar ethos to our own. It seems a really natural fit and we look forward to working with them over the coming year.
For more info about Collins Solicitors please visit www.collinslaw.com, email info@collinslaw.co.uk or call 01923 223 324. For Collins’ twitter feed go to #collins_law.
Please support The Bhopal Medical Appeal by staying in touch with us on Facebook or Twitter. You can also join us on YouTube and Flickr and if you want to support the work of our clinics you can visit our Donate page. Thanks!
The London Evening Standard’s lack of coverage over the growing issue of Dow’s London 2012 sponsorship has been a disappointment to Bhopal campaigners and Londoners who believe this story to be very much in the public interest.
In fact, this is only the second time the Standard have even mentioned the growing furore despite the story receiving substantial worldwide coverage. The Standard’s intransigence even landed them in Private Eye’s ‘Street of Shame’ column, back in December, after they repeatedly ignored press releases sent by the BMA:
The evening Standard is right behind the London Olympics, with a five strong team of Olympic Correspondents. But is it too partial and ignoring stories that might cast the games in a negative light?
The Bhopal Medical Appeal is making waves over Dow Chemicals’ creation of the ‘Wrap’, a plastic curtain that will surround the Olympic Stadium. In return Dow gets “exclusive marketing rights” to the stadium and will be able to brand the wrap with its name until the Games start. [Note from web-editor; Dow recently u-turned on this marketing agreement and the wrap will not feature their branding.]
The campaigners say Dow is avoiding financial responsibility for the victims of the 1984 Bhopal disaster. In 2011 Dow took over the plant from Union Carbide, which was responsible for the catastrophe, and Dow is now resisting any more claims for compensation from the relatives of those killed and the thousands still suffering from illness.
The Bhopal medical Appeal has the support of an all-party group of MPs, including shadow Olympics minister Tessa Jowell and home affairs committee chair Keith Vaz, whiles questions are being raised with Boris Johnson at the London Assembly. A group of Indian Olympians also wrote to Lord Coe demanding that he “Dump Dow”.
You’d think even the most Olympic cheerleading paper would consider this was worth reporting- but it seems not. The Bhopal Medical Appeal sent two press releases to the Standard’s Olympic editor, Matthew Beard, alerting him to an MP’s press conference but received a single-word reply: ‘Unsubscribe.’ (Private Eye)
In a new low this recent column by Sebastian Shakespeare seemingly supports the sponsorship deal, and, quite bizarrely, went on to claim that sport is no place for ethics. This prompted a letter from Meredith Alexander, the erstwhile Sustainability Commissioner for London 2012, who recently resigned over the Dow controversy.
The Standard has decided it won’t print this letter, so in the interest of a balanced argument over the issue, we’re publishing it here:
Dear Sir,
What a shame to read in Sebastian Shakespeare’s jaded column last week that he believes “the Olympics should be no place for ethics.”
I think most Londoners share my view that ethics and sport can and must go hand in hand. Yet as things stand, the enjoyment of the Games risks being hampered by the toxic legacy of one of the sponsors: Dow Chemicals. Dow bought Union Carbide, who owned the chemical plant responsible for a horrific gas leak in Bhopal, India. As research from Amnesty International shows, the tragedy killed over 20,000 people and left tens of thousands with terrible health problems. Full compensation has never been paid. Sebastian Shakespeare contends that demanding Dow address this failure is “like holding the son responsible for the sins of the father.” Not so. It would be terribly convenient for Dow if the slate was wiped clean when a company was purchased. But Dow didn’t just buy the profit sheet, the shares and the expertise from Union Carbide. They also bought their legacy, the environmental tragedy of Bhopal and the responsibility for it. Warts, sin and all.
When London bid to host the 2012 Games, we made a promise to the world that it would be most sustainable Games ever. I can not see how we can square that with defending the appointment of a sponsor responsible for one of the worst environmental disasters of our time. Yours faithfully,
Meredith Alexander, Formerly of the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012
Please support The Bhopal Medical Appeal by staying in touch with us on Facebook or Twitter. You can also join us on YouTube and Flickr and if you want to support the work of our clinics you can visit our Donate page. Thanks!
Last week Financial Times assistant editor Michael Skapinker published a controversial article titled ‘Don’t jump aboard the anti-Dow bandwagon.’
The Bhopal Medical Appeal wrote a letter in reply to Mr Skapinker, and as we have yet to receive a reply and in the interest of a balanced argument, we are publishing it here:
Dear Sir,
After reading your article I felt compelled to write to you expressing my concern.
I work for the Bhopal Medical Appeal, a charity that provides the only free health care to the survivors of the 1984 gas disaster as well as those affected by contaminated water since the disaster.
Articles which claim a lack of responsibility for Dow have the unfortunate side-effect of undermining the credibility of our organisation’s presentation of the issues. Such articles therefore also potentially damage our efforts to deliver help to those who need it most in Bhopal. Our understanding is that Dow’s acceptance of its inherited civil, environmental and criminal liabilities in Bhopal is a crucial precondition of any substantive change in the social, medical and economic situation in Bhopal, a change which is our charity’s primary objective. Our funding is precarious, and though we are able to support treatment of approximately 20,000 victims of gas and water poisoning, the need is to reach another 580,000.
Your statement declaring; “the rest of us should have the sense to recognise that Dow is a long way down any list of Bhopal’s principal villains” generates particular grievance. I feel this is severely misleading. The distinction between Dow and Union Carbide I see as grossly overestimated. The fact that Dow Chemical did not own the factory at the time of the disaster is largely irrelevant. The liabilities are still outstanding and managers of Union Carbide, a subsidiary of Dow are absconding from charges of ‘culpable homicide’.
You imply that Dow’s logo“which won’t appear on the wrap anyway,” has little significance to the sponsorship of the games. Allowing any company with outstanding liabilities to sponsor a national event is debatably unethical, whilst allowing one with a history of negligence is making a public mockery of the people of Bhopal.
This further negates your point that viewers of the Olympics are unlikely to purchase Dow’s products. It is not about the wrap or the advertising per se, it is about the sponsorship in its’ entirety which continues to ignore Dow’s history and accountability for its’ subsidiaries.
Dow have been involved with the production of both Napalm and Agent Orange and thus aside from Bhopal they still have plenty of other crimes and liabilities to answer for. It is wrong that we encourage such behaviour from multinational corporations by allowing them to be part of a world wide celebration of human aspiration, cooperation and sustainability such as the Olympic Games.
Your article portrays Dow Chemical as coerced into both the situations as they “agreed”to the take over of Union Carbide and“agreed”to become an Olympic sponsor. This disregards any profit that Dow were, and are continuing to gain from both these so called ‘agreements.’ Although your point of blaming the big bad American corporation in some cases may be valid, in this case it is entirely unjustified. Dow bought Union Carbide in 2001 and with it came liabilities that they still have yet to respond too. They are by no means an innocent-bystander.
Dow’s continuation to market its’ subsidiary Union Carbide’s products after the disaster further demonstrates this. This act of co-operation seems to contradict Dow’s stance that Union Carbide, despite being a subsidiary, is still a separate entity. Their argument that they can’t be held liable for the continuing Bhopal tragedy because they’re not actively operating with Union Carbide is therefore further discredited.
Portraying a one sided view from Dow’s George Hamilton and his seemingly ethical concern that the wrap be made from a recycled material is almost laughable considering the environmental contamination that to this day is poisoning the survivors.
We want to do more than “drum up trouble,” we want instead to demand the corporations to take responsibility, and to seek justice for the generations of people still suffering as a result of their negligence.
I hope that you are able to see Dow’s inappropriate role as part of the London Olympics when instead they should be in Bhopal, providing remediation to the abandoned site. Furthermore, I urge that you amend your article published yesterday.
I look forward to your response.
You can read the original article in the Financial Times here
Please support The Bhopal Medical Appeal by staying in touch with us on Facebook or Twitter. You can also join us on YouTube and Flickr and if you want to support the work of our clinics you can visit our Donate page. Thanks!
John Joyce, Rector of Holy Trinity, Hurstpierpoint and Sunday School children present a cheque for £500 to Georgina, Jade and Farah on Sunday 29th January
Children at Holy Trinity Sunday School, Hurstpierpoint, Sussex have raised just over £500 for the Bhopal Medical Appeal and presented a cheque to Charity Administrator Georgina le Clercq and colleagues Farah Edwards and Jade van Drie-Brown on Sunday 29 January.
We took the opportunity to make a short presentation to the children about the ongoing disaster in Bhopal followed by a workshop showing them how to make giant marigolds from recycled plastic carrier bags.
The children voted the BMA their charity of choice in 2011 and raised money by staging a variety of fundraising initiatives such as cake sales and special events throughout the year. Smartie tubes were used as a convenient way to collect coins.
Commenting on the money raised, John Joyce, Rector of Holy Trinity Church said; “The terrible disaster in Bhopal seemed to strike a chord with the children at Holy Trinity, particularly when they learnt that in Bhopal children continue to be born with deformities and other medical problems. It is for these children and the survivors that over £500 was raised”.
See Below for instructions on how to make recycled carrier bag marigolds.
1. Lay your plastic bag flat and cut off the handles at the top and the base.
2. Cut down one edge and lay out flat. Lay 8 bags neatly on top of each other.
3. Keeping all the bags neatly on top of each other, fold them backwards and forwards in a concertina type fold so the flat part is approx. 5cms across. Do this until it is all folded then secure firmly with a thin piece of wire keeping the folds flat.
4. With scissors, trim a curve onto the ends of your flat folded plastic to neaten the ends and give your flower beautifully shaped petals.
5. Open out one side of your folded plastic into a fan shape then start to tease out each layer until it opens up and starts to form your flower shape.
6. Repeat with the other side and then you will have a gorgeous recycled plastic bag marigold!
Andrew Chitty, lecturer in Philosophy at Sussex University is leading the UniSus Bhopal Runners, a group of 20 staff and students who are running the Brighton Marathon for the Bhopal Medical Appeal.
The runners will be joining 18,000 other entrants on Sunday 15th April as they attempt the over 26 mile course around Brighton to raise £10,000 for the charity.
The Bhopal Medical Appeal is a Brighton-based charity that funds two clinics in Bhopal, India, offering first-class health care to anybody affected by the 1984 Bhopal Gas Disaster, or by the ongoing disaster that witnesses thousands of people drinking water contaminated with toxic chemicals.
On 3rd December 1984, a cloud of toxic gas leaked from a Union Carbide pesticide plant and spread across the city of Bhopal, India. 8,000 people died within days. In the years since, the death toll has risen to more than 25,000. The site has never been cleaned up and the remaining toxic waste continues to contaminate the area. Dangerous levels of toxic chemicals are now found in the drinking water of many tens of thousands of people, which is Bhopal’s second disaster.
The UniSus Bhopal Runners have been organising twice-weekly 5-mile lunchtime runs since last term and this term they are adding longer runs on Sunday mornings.
We sat down with Andrew to see how things were going.
1) How is the training going for the group far?
Not too bad. Unfortunately one of us has had to drop out because of dislocated knee cap and we’ve had a couple of other less serious injuries, but most of us are now at the point where we can run 8 or 10 miles if pushed. We’ll aim to gradually build that up to near 20 miles by the end of term.
2) How much running experience have you had?
I did cross country running for a couple of years as a teenager and in the decades since then I’ve always been a ‘recreational jogger’. Then two years ago I joined my local running club and started training properly, and doing local races and Parkruns. I ran my first marathon last April in Brighton.
3) Any advice for less experienced runners who are joining you this year?
Enjoy it! It’s amazing how much you can improve as a runner by training gently and within your limits, as long as you keep it up consistently two or three times a week and extend your distances slowly. There is gain without pain.
4) Where did you first hear about the Bhopal Medical Appeal?
I was looking at the souvenir edition of the Brighton Argus last April right after the Brighton Marathon, and below the pictures of crowds of healthy runners was an advert showing a child with pitifully deformed legs with the caption ‘Next year why not run for the Bhopal Medical Appeal?’ The contrast was very striking. So I looked them up on the internet and got in touch. It was a very effective advert!
5) Why is this cause so important for you?
Partly because I feel such an injustice has been done to the people of Bhopal by inflicting this human-made disaster on them – the new documentary film Bhopali shows this very powerfully – and the rest of the world owes them whatever help we can give to recover from it. Partly because I am so impressed by the work done by the two clinics supported by the Bhopal Medical Appeal and I’d like to do something to support them.
If you would be interested in helping with their fundraising efforts, please contact Nikola Wells at nw78@sussex.ac.uk
You can visit the UniSus Bhopal Runners JustGiving page here
Fancy a challenge this year but not quite ready to run a marathon? The Bhopal Medical Appeal is currently recruiting runners for the British London10K Run which takes place on the 8th July 2012. For more information please email info@bhopal.org.
A look at one day in the life of the Chingari Rehabilitation Centre. The Bhopal Medical Appeal funds this facility which gives treatment to the second and third generation sufferers of Union Carbide’s poisons- which Dow Chemical still refuses to acknowledge any liability for.
