Justice for Bhopal

To:  The Dow Chemical Company

The Union Carbide's pesticide factory in BHOPAL, INDIA DISASTER the world’s worst-ever industrial catastrophe, has never ended.

Even 20 years later, the people of Bhopal, India, continue to suffer and die because of Dow-Carbide’s gas and the poisons it left behind.

PLEASE JOIN THEIR STRUGGLE BY SIGNING THIS PETITION.

I support the struggle for justice of the people of Bhopal.

More than 20,000 innocent people have already died and 120,000 are suffering today from health effects (see http://www.bhopal.org) related to their gas exposure. It was Union Carbide’s cost-cutting that turned Bhopal into a gas chamber (see http://www.bhopal.net/oldsite/poisonpapers.html) and it’s the responsibility of Carbide’s new owner, Dow Chemical, to resolve the outstanding legal and moral obligations it has in Bhopal (see http://www.studentsforbhopal.org/DowIsLiable.htm).

I'M OUTRAGED THAT:

1. There was no siren and no warning--people woke with the gases already in their faces, filling their mouths, noses and lungs with excruciating pain.

2. NONE of safety systems were functioning on the night of the disaster—six in all.

3. Union Carbide under-invested in an inherently hazardous facility located in a crowded neighborhood, used admittedly unproven designs, stored lethal MIC in reckless quantities, dismantled safety systems and cut down on safety staff and training in an effort to cut costs.

4. Union Carbide and its new owner, Dow Chemical, continue to blame the disaster on a fictitious and unnamed worker, and deny their own negligence.

5. In the wake of the disaster, Carbide claimed that the gas was harmless, when it knew it was lethal (as described in its own manuals).

6. Dow-Carbide refuses to share all its medical information about the health effects of the gas it released, MIC--information that doctors could use to save lives--claiming the information is a “trade secret”.

7. Union Carbide fled India and abandoned its Bhopal plant, leaving thousands of tons of dangerous chemicals behind, which are now poisoning the water of the same people Carbide first poisoned 20 years ago. As more people grow sick, Dow-Carbide still refuses to clean up its pollution in Bhopal.

8. The Union Carbide Corporation, charged criminally with “culpable homicide” in the wake of the disaster, has refused to appear in court or stand trial. Union Carbide is now an international fugitive from justice, considered an “absconder” under Indian law.

Bhopal remains one of the world's worst examples of corporate crime, but the people of Bhopal continue to persevere in their call for justice. I’m joining Bhopal’s survivors by calling on Dow to:

1. Face Trial: Ensure that prime accused Warren Anderson, former chairman of Union Carbide ceases absconding from criminal justice in India and the authorized representatives of the company [Dow-Union Carbide] face trial in the Bhopal criminal court.

2. Provide Long Term Health Care: Assume responsibility for the continuing and long term health consequences among the exposed persons and potentially their future generations. This includes medical care, health monitoring and necessary research studies. The company must provide all information on the leaked gases and their medical consequences.

3. Clean Up The Poison: Remove the contamination of the ground water and soil in and around the abandoned Union Carbide factory in Bhopal. Provide for supply of safe drinking water to the community.

4. Provide Economic and Social Support: Dow must provide income opportunities to victims who can not pursue their usual trade as a result of exposure-induced illnesses and income support to families rendered destitute due to death or incapacitation of the breadwinner of the family.

I may also become involved in the campaign by visiting http://www.bhopal.net, http://www.studentsforbhopal.org, and http://www.bhopal.org.

Sincerely,

Please Sign The Justice for Bhopal Petition