A campaign in the United States led by two girl victims from Bhopal, highlighting lingering toxicity left behind by the 1984 gas disaster in their city, has paid off with a group of 27 members of the U.S. Congress asking Dow Chemicals to clean up the site.

Sarita and Sareen, both in their teens, were taken on a 42-day tour of the U.S., starting Apr. 21, by the Bhopal Group for Information and Action (BGIA) so they could meet and interact with officials, academics and politicians in New York, Washington D.C., San Francisco and other cities.

Rachna Dhingra, a member of the BGIA team, described the intervention of 27 Congressmen as a "big step" in getting Dow Chemicals to accept responsibility for cleaning up the disaster site in Bhopal, which it acquired from Union Carbide in 2001.

"In the U.S. we had meetings with the State and Justice Department officials, who took keen interest in the issue of extradition of Warren Anderson, chairman of Union Carbide at the time of the world’s worst industrial disaster," Dhingra told IPS over telephone from Bhopal.

A runaway reaction at the Union Carbide plant - said to have been caused by gross negligence - resulted in cyanide gas spewing into the streets of Bhopal city on the night of Dec. 3, 1984, killing more than 3,500 people instantly and at least 8,000 people in the first week. Further chemical damage affected more than 200,000.

Anderson managed to slip out of Bhopal and fly back to the U.S. - refusing to return to India to face criminal liability.

But the main agenda of the BGIA tour was to bring pressure to bear on Dow Chemicals to clean up the site where the pesticides factory stood - that remains saturated with toxic matter, forcing poor communities around it to drink contaminated water 25 years later, Dhingra said.

Satish Sarangi, who led the delegation, told IPS that the changed attitude was possibly the result of a more responsive administration under President Barack Obama. "Among those we met was Henry Waxman, Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, who had in 1984 chaired the congressional sub-committee on the Bhopal Gas Disaster and had promised a fresh hearing where Dow officials could be summoned."

In a letter to Dow Chemicals, the senators have demanded that the company take responsibility for meeting the medical needs of the survivors and their economic rehabilitation, besides cleaning up the soil and water of the area around the site.

"We request that Dow ensures a representative appear in the ongoing legal cases in India regarding Bhopal, that Dow meets the demands of the survivors for medical and economic rehabilitation, and cleans up the soil and groundwater contamination in and around the factory site," the lawmakers said in a letter to Dow chairman and CEO, Andrew Liveris.

"Despite repeated public requests and protests around the world, Union Carbide has refused to appear before the Bhopal District Court to face the criminal charges pending against it for the disaster," the letter said. When served with a summons by a Bhopal district court in 1992, Union Carbide publicly refused to comply.

In 1999 Bhopal survivors filed a class action suit in U.S. courts against Union Carbide, asking that the company be held responsible for violations of international human rights law and for cleanup of environmental contamination in Bhopal. The case is one of a handful of international corporate liability cases that test the limits of corporations’ ability to use the laws of one nation to escape responsibility in another.

Congressman Frank Pallone was quoted as saying that, "after 25 years, the human and environmental tragedy of the Bhopal chemical disaster remains with us, while Union Carbide and Dow Chemical are yet to be brought to justice."

Sarangi thought what may have helped draw support from such a large group of Congressmen was the fact that both India and the U.S. uphold the "polluter pays" principle in which the polluter - rather than public agencies - is made responsible for environmental pollution.

Indicating the double standards followed by Dow Chemicals, Sarangi said that while the company saw fit to set aside 2.2 billion dollars in 2002 against Union Carbide’s asbestos-related liabilities in the U.S., it has continued to evade liabilities in Bhopal.

Dow Chemicals had taken the stand that all liabilities were settled in 1989 when Union Carbide paid 470 million dollars to the Indian government, to be distributed to the survivors.

But NGOs based in Bhopal say the amount was paltry compared to the three billion dollars originally demanded by the government, and also did not take into account the after-effects of the gas leak on the city’s inhabitants - some 15,000 of whom are estimated to have died subsequently of various complications.

It has been estimated that victims ended up receiving less than 350 dollars for injuries, some of them lifelong. Also Union Carbide may have gotten away with costs amounting to 48 cents per share.

In 1991, the Supreme Court ordered Union Carbide to set up a super- speciality 500-bed hospital in Bhopal to look after the long-term needs of the survivors. But the bulk of the funds actually came from the sale of Union Carbide’s Indian shares - confiscated by a district court as penalty after the company ignored summons to appear in the criminal liability case.

According to Dhingra, what became the Bhopal Memorial Hospital Trust facility was quickly ridden with corruption and mismanagement so that the real victims could never actually access any of its facilities.

Syed M. Irfan, who heads the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha (Movement For the Rights of Men and Women Affected by the Bhopal Gas Tragedy), told IPS the state government of Madhya Pradesh was as much to blame for the uncaring attitude towards the victims of the disaster and to residual toxicity.

"If Dow Chemicals does undertake to pay for reparations then it is important to involve the NGOs rather than leave it solely to the government," Syed told IPS. "The fact is that even the creation of a separate ministry to deal with the gas tragedy has not helped the interests of the victims."

According to Dhingra a priority for the survivors now is to hold the central government down to a solemn promise it made in August last year to set up an ‘empowered commission’ to look into all aspects of rehabilitation - including medical care of the survivors, income generation, social support and clean-up efforts.

That promise came after a dramatic month-long, 500-mile walk by a group of 50 people from Bhopal to the national capital where they set up camp for 130 days.

Bhopal, Dec 3: Survivors of the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy today mourned their kith and kin, who had a silent death following leakage of about 40 tonnes of toxic methyl isocyanate from the Union Carbide Corporation's (UCC) pesticide plant here on this day 24 years ago.

Several Non Government Organisations (NGOs) organised their own programmes in the gas-hit city as part of the annual ritual to pay homage to the victims, mostly belonging to downtrodden families.

All Religion Prayer

At the government level, an 'All Religion Prayer' was organised at the Barkatullah Bhavan to pay tribute to those perished in the world's worst industrial disaster.

Madhya Pradesh State Human Rights Commission Chairman Justice DM Dharmadhikari led the prayers. Traditionally, Governor and Chief Minister used to attend the function but this time they did not turn up.

Religious heads of Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Daudi Bohra, Jainism and Buddhism made the prayers at the meeting.

Those present on the occasion included DGP SK Raut, Principal Secretary of Health and Family Welfare Department Devraj Virdi, Bhopal divisional commissioner Pukhraj Maroo, IG Shailendra Shrivastava and a large number of distinguished citizens and public representatives.

Communist Party of India

The Communist Party of India organised a human chain, staged a demonstration and burnt former UCC Chairman Warren Anderson in effigy at Itwara Chowk. CPI district secretary Shailendra Kumar Shaili said that capitalism has given birth to terrorism. The Bhopal Gas Tragedy happened due to capitalist terrorism, he added.

Mahila Udyog Sangathan

Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangathan organised condolence meetings at different venues, including on the road in front of the Union Carbide factory which is currently acquired by another multinational Dow Chemicals.

A small memorial

The statue of a woman carrying an infant in her hand and another kid holding her saree, depicting the panic of the intervening night of December 2-3 1984, was also a centre of attraction across the plant.

Railway employees

The railway employees paid tributes to their 45 colleagues, including then Bhopal Station Superintendent HS Dhurve, who died during the tragedy. He had reportedly stopped the movement of trains passing through Bhopal averting casualty of a number of train passengers and in this bid he died in his office chamber.

Unique homage by artists

Artists of Bhopal paid homage to the Gas Tragedy victims in a unique way, through paintings. The Bhopal Gas Peedit Sangharsh Sahyog Samiti had organised this programme in front Union Carbide gate. Senior artists like Dr. LN Bhavsar, Devilal Patidar, Anil Gaikwar, Roopinder Siddhu, Hutaram Adhikari, Manoj Kulkarni, Shailendra Namdev, Satish Dhoke, Dr. Raju Rathore, Ramashankar Mishra, Shital Sharma, Padmakar Santape, Basant Bhargav, Pradeep Ahirwar, Inder Singh Thakur, Dhananjay expressed their imagination through paintings.

Other NGOs also took out rallies condemning the successive state governments and multinational companies for leaving the victims to fend for themselves. Andersons' effigies were also burnt at many places.

The mourners also visited different crematoria and burial grounds to pay tribute to the deceased.

Many NGOs still criticised the government for providing only symptomatic treatment to the gas affected though a super speciality Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre had been established on Supreme Court's order to serve the survivors of the tragedy.

Mahila Udyog Sangathan Convenor Abdul Jabbar claimed that about 30,000 people had died and another one lakh people permanently disabled after their exposure to toxic MIC. More than five lakh people had filed suits for compensation which was being distributed through ward-level courts out of the corpus of 475 million US dollars received from the UCC through the Supreme Court mediation.

The criminal case relating to the industrial disaster was still pending in a local court. Then UCC Chairman Warren Anderson was among the accused but he had not yet responded to the court's summons.

Over the years UCC was acquired by Dow Chemicals. The Madhya Pradesh government has plans to develop a memorial on the 80-acre land surrounding the now-closed carbide plant.

Madhya Pradesh High Court had already issued directives for shifting of the chemical waste lying at the factory premises as it was causing water pollution in the adjoining areas.

Indian Council of Medical Research had conducted several projects to study the after effects of exposure to MIC. Majority of the victims have started showing symptoms of cancer and a Cancer Hospital has been set up in the city since this tragedy.

Free cataract operations

World Handicap Day is being observed on 3rd December. On this day the 'Drishti' Institute of Bhopal Charitable Hospital paid homage to the deceased of Bhopal Gas Tragedy victims and cataract operations of poor villagers were done. In a programme organised N Sridharan, Jai Prakash Pandey and Ajay Singh of the Micro Finance Branch of State Bank of India distributed free medicines and goggles to the poor patients. Dr Ajit Jain, Ajay Mehta and others of 'Drishti' gave free advice to the eye patients.

Homage paid to rail workers

At a function to pay homage to the rail workers who died in gas tragedy, Additional Divisional Railway Manager Lt. Colonel MP Singh announced that a shed would be erected at the memorial and beautification of the place would also be done. The West Central Railway Workers Welfare Centre, School family and Scouts and Guides placed a floral wheel at the memorial on Platform No. 1 and paid homage by standing two minutes in silence.

Not learnt any lesson

Jahrili Gas Kand Sangharsh Morcha president Man Singh said that the Central Government has not learnt any lesson even from the worst industrial disaster that occurred at Bhopal 24 years ago. He said that it is sad that the gas victims did not get proper treatment these years and the court could not punish the culprits of the tragedy so far.

Bhopal, Dec 3 (IANS) People here held rallies, demonstrations and burnt effigies to observe the 24th anniversary of the Bhopal gas tragedy, which killed over 3,000 people and maimed several thousand others for life.The tragedy occurred on the night of Dec 2-3, 1984, when tonnes of Methyl-Isocyanate (MIC) and other lethal gases spewed out of the now defunct Union Carbide Corporation’s pesticide plant.

The NGOs, working for the victims, reiterated their resolve to continue their fight against the government, Union Carbide and Dow Chemicals which took over Union Carbide.

A torch rally was held and effigies of Warren Anderson, the then chairman of Union Carbide, were burnt at several places.

An all-religion prayer meeting was held Wednesday morning at the Barkatullah Bhavan in memory of the victims. However, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Governor Balram Jakhar did not attend. Every year, both the governor and the chief minister have been joining the memorial meeting.

Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangthan (BGPMUS), a pressure group working for the cause of gas victims since 24 years, also took out a procession following a public meeting at the Yadgar-e-Shahjahani Park.

The procession passed through various localities of old Bhopal, around Union Carbide plant and culminated at Chhola cremation ground where Anderson’s effigy was burnt and a pledge to carry on the fight for justice was taken.

“The after-effects of the world’s biggest industrial disaster are not coming to an end. Despite all the claimed attempts, the much needed help, even today, is awaited by the most badly hit victims.

“Every year, the anniversary of the gas tragedy passes on with condolence meets and assurances but authorities are yet to address the woes of the sufferers”, said Abdul Jabbar, convenor BGPMUS.

He said: “Until now Rs.4 billion have been spent by these people in this fight. It is really shameful. The governments and the politicians are nothing but coffin thieves. They have snatched money from the dying people.”

Another rally was taken out jointly by the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh (BGPMSKS), Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha (BGPMPSM) and Bhopal Group for Information and Action (BGIA).

Leaders of the organisations said over 100,000 people were still battling with chronic illnesses and diseases like tuberculosis, diabetes and hypertension and mental health problems.

New Delhi, Dec 3: To support the struggle of Bhopal gas victims, various organizations, supporting groups and students held a protest here last evening.

The protesters alleged that even after 24 years of the tragedy in which 3,800 people died, the victims are still awaiting help and support.

The protest was organised by the International Campaign for Justice inhopal (ICJB), a worldwide coalition of some 20 people's organizations, NGO'snd individuals to express solidarity with the groups.

"All the Delhi supporters, supporting groups and students want the empowered commission for Bhopal and also block an extra legal exit for the Dow Chemicals. We have gathered in memory of the Union Carbide victims and also in solidarity with the longest-running struggle. We are with them in full view for justice and life with dignity and demand for accountability," said Shalini Sharma, a volunteer associated with the ICJB.

On the night of December 2, 1984, tons of a toxic gas leaked from a pesticide plant owned by Union Carbide in India's central Bhopal, killing about 3,800 people almost instantly. Thousands more were maimed.

Union Carbide in 1984 accepted moral responsibility for the tragedy and established a 100 million dollars charitable trust fund to build a hospital for victims. Later Union Carbide was taken over by Dow Chemical.The Union Carbide, after a protracted legal battle, paid 470 million dollars to the Indian Government in a settlement reached in 1989.

Bhopal, Dec 2 (IANS) Hundreds of survivors of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy Tuesday marched with torches and held a candlelight vigil outside the now defunct Union Carbide factory here on the eve of the 24th anniversary of the disaster. Thousands of tonnes of methyl isocyanate (MIC) spewed out of the Union Carbide factory on the night of Dec 2-3, 1984 killing thousands of people instantly and maiming several thousands for life.

People living next to the Union Carbide factory - where the ground water is contaminated by poisons from the hazardous chemical waste of the factory - also joined the march. Children who had been poisoned by contaminated ground water formed a prominent part of the march.

Leaders of three organisations - Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha and Bhopal Group for Information and Action - demanded immediate setting up of the Empowered Commission on Bhopal for long term medical care and economic and social rehabilitation and supply of safe drinking water, besides clean up of thousands of tonnes of hazardous waste.

They said that following their march on foot to New Delhi in February and a five-month agitation from March to August this year, the central government has committed itself to setting up the Empowered Commission.

The organisations said that the central government has also promised to pursue Dow Chemical’s liability with regard to contamination of soil and ground water, in the ongoing case in Madhya Pradesh High Court at Jabalpur.

Bhopal, Dec 2 (ANI): Even after 24 years of the Bhopal gas tragedy, victims affected by it are still awaiting help and support.

Demanding government intervention, the victims said that their long fight for justice has cost them a fortune.

"Until now four billion rupees have been spent by these people in this fight.

It is really shameful. The governments and the politicians are nothing but coffin thieves. They have snatched money from the dying people," said Abdul Jabbar, President, Women Entrepreneur Association, Bhopal.

"The people here are suffering from diseases like lung problems and other respiratory diseases. The children who are being born now are also facing problems like poor vision, less growth and lack of memory. It is very clear that Bhopal is a dying city," added.

The victims lament the government's failure to provide them with quality medical care.

"The problems that we faced at the time of the gas tragedy are nothing in comparison to what we are facing now. The government is not providing us with proper medicines. We don't have money to get ourselves treated by private doctors. The medicines provided at government dispensaries are ineffective. The situation is just worsening now," said Sayyed Irfan, a gas victim.

They complain that it has taken them their lifetime and their filial generation too might suffer on this account.

"The government has not provided us with proper medical facilities and adequate compensation. Our generation is almost finished fighting for the cause of justice. We are not even sure that our children who are also fighting with us will ever be able to get anything," said Mohini Devi, another gas victim.

On the night of December 2, 1984, tons of a toxic gas leaked from a pesticide plant owned by Union Carbide in Bhopal, killing about 3,800 people almost immediately. Thousands more were injured.

Union Carbide in 1984 accepted moral responsibility for the tragedy and established a 100 million dollars charitable trust fund to build a hospital for victims. Later, Union Carbide was taken over by Dow Chemical.

A girl born deaf. A young man with severe diabetes. They were not even alive when a deadly cloud of chemicals escaped from the Union Carbide plant. But the suffering goes on.

Wednesday, 19 November 2008


Three years after the accident Mrs Ahirwar gave birth to a son, Jagdish, who suffers from severe diabetes and stunted development. Though he is 21, Jagdish looks like he is six or seven

She has no proof. She cannot know for sure. But when Niello Far's daughter was born deaf, she immediately suspected what might have been the cause. "Everybody believes it was the gas. Others have told me it is because of the gas," said the young mother, making sign language to her four-year-old, Zoba. "The doctor has told me that it may be, that it might be the gas."

When people in Bhopal talk of the gas they are referring to the 40 tonnes of toxic chemicals that poured into the sky from an insecticide factory in the early hours of 3 December 1984, wreaking deadly havoc.

Up to 8,000 people died in the immediate aftermath, perhaps two and half times that in the subsequent months. But now, almost a quarter-century after the world's worst industrial accident, campaigners are fighting to help a "second generation" of suffering Bhopalis who they say are victims of contaminated water and political and corporate neglect.

Earlier this month, in what campaigners say could be a breakthrough, a court in New York ruled that a claim seeking damages against a US chemicals giant should be allowed to proceed. "It is significant," said Richard Lewis, a lawyer. "We are back in court. We are preparing to go to trial. That is our goal."

It's hard to miss the site of the now-shuttered plant where the US company Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) produced an insecticide sold under the brand name Sevin. Located in the heart of Bhopal, in Madhya Pradesh, the plant is surrounded by a wall covered in graffiti that demands compensation for those who suffered.

The 11 acres may now be largely given over to birds and grazing cattle but, remarkably, the site has still not been properly cleaned up. A locked warehouse contains 340 tonnes of toxic waste gathered from the site and held in leaking drums and sacks. This waste was only collected from among the rusting plant equipment in 2005.

On a recent morning, clasping a permission slip from the local magistrate, The Independent was escorted around the site by a police officer. With birds chirping, the officer pushed the way past overgrown bushes to the tanks that once stored the toxic gases. Even now, the floor beneath the rusting equipment is littered with small pellets of some sort of chemical, presumably used in the production of the insecticide.

The road led past street lamps now lost to undergrowth and a rusting flare tower, designed to burn off any escaping gases but which failed to work on the night of the disaster. Like the rest of the site it stands here as a constant, taunting reminder.

To the north, just beyond the wall and next to a densely populated shanty town, are two solar evaporation ponds into which the site's industrial waste was pumped. The ponds look dark, dead and unforgiving, and campaigners say they leak, allowing poisons to contaminate the ground water. When the monsoon rains come, the ponds flood the shanties with their toxic filth. "Namak pani," said one man, pointing towards the ponds. Salt water.

It was five past midnight when more than 40 tonnes of toxic gas, including methyl isocyanate and hydrogen cyanide, poured into the atmosphere after water somehow entered a holding tank and triggered a violent reaction. Even now, the full details of what caused the accident are not entirely known, but corrosion and lack of maintenance appear to have been factors. Certainly, the plant lacked an adequate plan for dealing with disasters.

That night, the wind was blowing in a southerly direction and it was the people living in the impoverished communities close to the plant that suffered most. Thousands died in their sleep, while at the nearby hospital the piles of corpses quickly grew. Mass graves and cremations were ordered to stop the spread of disease.

"We were inside the house. I could see there was something in the air. I had problems breathing and my husband's eyes were watering," said Lilabai Ahirwar, who lives in a two-room home near the site. "Then my eyes were watering too. We just covered ourselves with the blanket. The next morning we got out from under the blanket and heard that it was gas. There were piles of dead bodies everywhere."

Three years after the accident Mrs Ahirwar gave birth to a son, Jagdish, who suffers from severe diabetes and stunted development. Though he is 21, Jagdish looks like he is six or seven. Again she has no proof, but like Mrs Far, Mrs Ahirwar suspects the industrial accident is to blame. "I feel it is because of the gas," she said.

One of Bhopal's enduring problems is that no comprehensive study has been carried out into the after-effects of the gas or subsequent contamination of drinking water. However, tests carried out by Greenpeace in 1999 discovered high concentrations of carcinogens and heavy metals around the plant. Local tube wells were found to have been polluted.

Meanwhile, a survey carried out in 2003 by the Sambhavan Clinic, a charity-run hospital operating in the worst-affected part of the city, found that 91 per cent of people relied on drinking water from contaminated pumps. Half of those surveyed complained of multiple health problems, predominantly breathing difficulties, anaemia, headaches, giddiness and vomiting. The clinic also detected a higher than average number of birth defects.

One of the patients at the clinic is Rajesh Thakur, 36. Mr Thakur was a child when the accident happened. He remembers fleeing with his family to the local lake, where people used the water to wash off the gas. His eyes stung and he felt giddy, something that continued as he got older.

Three years ago, after a day during which he felt particularly ill, Mr Thakur awoke to discover he could not walk. He was diagnosed as having high blood pressure, something his doctor at the clinic, Mali Mrithunjay, is convinced is linked directly to the gas. "I believe the gas caused the high blood pressure, and that caused the paralysis. He is a severe case of gas victim," said Dr Mrithunjay "Every day I see around 50 patients. Many have skin problems, neuro-muscular disorders, disabilities."

Campaigners say Bhopal's tragedy is not simply an event in the past but something that is ongoing. Confronted by what they say is political apathy and corporate negligence, thousands of people are continuing to suffer from a disaster that happened 24 years ago. "It's the usual thing with environmental justice," said Satinath Sarangi, who heads the clinic. "If you are poor, low caste, Muslim, then you are more likely to be a victim of industrial pollution."

Then who is to blame for this shocking state of affairs, for the failure to clean up the polluted site, for the failure to provide safe drinking water to the people of Bhopal?

Having paid $470m (£313m) in "full and final" settlement in 1989 as part of a deal brokered by the Indian government, UCC returned the leased plant site to the state government in 1998. Why the company was allowed to return a site that remained contaminated with toxic waste is unclear.

Then in 2001, UCC was taken over by the Dow Chemical Company. Dow, based in Michigan, has resisted claims for further compensation and demands that it should help clean up the site. Campaigners claim that Indian authorities at all levels are afraid of scaring off foreign investors and point to a 2006 letter, written by Dow's chief executive to the Indian ambassador in Washington seeking an assurance that the company would not be pursued. It is to their mutual benefit, the letter says, to establish "the appropriate investment climate".

Scott Wheeler, a Dow spokesman, insisted the company had not inherited the responsibilities of UCC. "[We] never owned or operated the former Bhopal plant site and this situation is not Dow's responsibility, accountability, or liability to bear. As there was never any ownership, there is no responsibility and no liability – for the Bhopal tragedy or its aftermath," he said.

The local government says it is looking to have the waste taken to the neighbouring state of Gujarat for incineration. "There is just a little poison left there because [most has been washed away by] the heavy rains," claimed Babulal Gaur, the minister in charge of relief and rehabilitation. Asked why things had taken so long, he said the matter had been tied up in the courts. He claimed the state was providing compensation and clean water to those affected. Asked whether Dow should clean up the site, he said: "They are not good people... We will clean it up. We will build a museum to show the world what happened."

At the clinic run by the Chingari Trust where Niello Far plays with her daughter, a little girl unable to hear her mother's voice, there is no need for any such museum. Champa Devi Shukla, herself a gas survivor and now a trustee, said 154 children were registered. They have a range of physical and mental disabilities. "We blame this on the contamination of the water," she said, as the children played together. "They have had to drink the contaminated water. This is causing the problem – mainly for the second generation."

COMMENTS...

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Posted by Pom | 20.11.08, 18:21 GMT

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This is the way it is all over the world. Corporations and governments are largely based on greed and inhumanity.

Had this occurred in the US, there would have been only marginal difference. The General Electric Company is still fighting against cleaning up toxic waste dumps after 30 years. More than 60,000 families affected by Hurricane Katrina are living in trailers that were manufactured with toxic levels of formaldehyde, while the manufacturer and the Federal Emergency Management Agency ignore the problem.

Therefore, the solutions to these tragedies lie in the prayers and actions of those of us who do care, to hold these agencies accountable, to vote such politicians outs, to sacrifice our own comforts to send aid or to go and help. The biggest gains in the Hurricane Katrina area have been made by groups of people getting together to help rebuild.

The legal process and media campaigns are often effective, but very slow. Can donations be made to a company for cleanup?

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Posted by Judith | 20.11.08, 13:30 GMT

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The tragedy of Bhopal has been continuing now for almost a quarter of a century. If this would have occured in US instead of India, if the 8000 people who died in the immediate aftermath and 20 000 in the following months would have been US citizens I doubt that it would have been ignored and shoved under the "legal technicalities" carpet and "it´s not our responsibility" Dow corporation attitude. When in 2001 the Twin towers collapsed in which up to 3000 people have died, there was a world outcry. Memorial has been made to the victims, world leaders have send their sympathy letters with the " world will never forget".What is the difference in human death?There can be no comparison in people´s suffering and dying. The sheer numbers of innocent victims that died in Bhopal because of corporate greed,irresponsibility, neglect and indifference coupled with political inaction has resulted in an unforgivable continuation of suffering for the new generation in Bhopal Justice is needed

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Posted by anoushka | 20.11.08, 01:32 GMT

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If my doggy poops in public and I don't clean it up I get punished with a fee of 30 Euro.

But then again - I am no corporation and the victims of Bhopal are not Americans!

Why are this sort of racists crimes against humanity not brought to the International Court in Den Haag?

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Posted by napomo | 19.11.08, 16:25 GMT

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The suffering and injustice of Bhopal is epic, but less well known is the spirit of resistance against despair within the affected people. The Sambhavna clinic, many of whose staff are also impacted, is the only centre to offer free, rational health care for tens of thousands of gas and contaminated water affected people. It's work is supported in the main by donations from individuals in the UK: www.bhopal.org

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Posted by Tim Edwards | 19.11.08, 15:14 GMT

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Killing 8000 people and wounded thousands more in their sleep is crime against humanity!! Till this day I cannot forget the scene of sorrows and tragedy as injured victims held my hands asking me to help and rescue them in 1992, when I was an invited member of the Peoples' Permanent Tribunal that investigated the tragedy. It is very sad to see poor and powerless people being killed and injured and not compensated by rich company, which is protected by powerful interest.

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Posted by KK Tan | 19.11.08, 08:46 GMT

Activists of the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal played a prank at the chemical export exhibition India Chem to expose the dealings of Dow Chemicals.

The activists issued an advertisement in the brochures of the exhibition in the name of Clean Chemistry Council, a fictitious European public relations firm, offering consultancy to corporations for improving their public image and evading legal liabilities “without changing the way they carried on their business”.

Within the ad, the founder of the Clean Chemistry Council advised corporations to avoid taking part in any form of charity not directly linked to business gain. It cited Dow Chemical as a pioneer in this respect.

According to the ad, Dow’s donation of Rs 1 crore to the Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti of Jaipur is ostensibly meant to supply artificial feet to amputees.

The ad says the donation stymied activists seeking justice for Bhopal gas victims—Dow acquired Union Carbide, the company responsible for the Bhopal gas tragedy. “For every child crippled by Carbide’s poison, there was an amputee benefiting from its profits,” the ad said.

But the donation was not without strings. The artificial feet invented by P K Sethi were originally made of vulcanized rubber but Dow Chemical has substituted the construction material with polyurethane, one of its major products.

The ad sa id by introducing product substitution, Dow Chemical aims to capture the market for artificial feet for 1.25 million amputees in India.

New York, Nov 4 (IANS) A New York court has reinstated a case filed against Union Carbide by residents of India’s Bhopal town who claim to have suffered serious health problems due to a gas leak from the company’s plant in 1984, rated the world’s worst industrial disaster. On the night of Dec 2-3, 1984, a Union Carbide pesticide plant in the central Indian town of Bhopal spewed tonnes of poisonous methyl isocyanate gas, killing some 3,000 people instantly and many more later.

The lawsuit was filed in 2004 by a group of people who live in the vicinity of the pesticide plant in Bhopal. They claim they suffered serious health problems due to soil and water contamination in the area by the leakage of toxic gas from the plant run by Union Carbide.

The case was previously dismissed by a trial court in 2006 and 2007. Reinstating the case, the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals (Manhattan) Monday said the lower courts did not give the plaintiff enough notice to respond to Union Carbide’s bid to dismiss the case.

“We view this as a close case,” US Circuit Judge Robert D. Sack said. “But we think there is a reasonable likelihood that, in light of the peculiarly difficult procedural history of this and related litigation, the plaintiffs were not aware that they were in danger of an adverse grant of summary judgment based on the submissions prior to the district court’s order converting the motion and then deciding it.”

Welcoming the court’s decision, H. Rajan Sharma, the attorney representing the Bhopal gas victims, said the judgment would enable them to conduct a detailed study on the role of the Union Carbide in the contamination of groundwater in Bhopal.

Sharma said the lawsuit is seeking cleanup, monitoring, and damages for personal injury caused to about 20,000 individuals along with property damages. The company, now owned by Dow Chemicals, had paid a compensation of $470 million in 1989.

In a statement, Union Carbide claimed Monday’s judgment should not be interpreted as a ruling on the merits of the case and said the claims would be ultimately dismissed.

“The Second Circuit did not discuss the merits of the case or the merits of the trial judge’s ruling of dismissal and its decision should not be interpreted as a ruling on the merits,” the statement said.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A lawsuit contending that thousands of people in India were exposed to polluted drinking water after the 1984 Union Carbide toxic-gas disaster in Bhopal was reinstated on Monday by a U.S. appeals court, which said a lower court improperly threw out the case.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York sent the lawsuit back to a Manhattan federal court judge for further proceedings.

A three-judge panel of the appeals court found that the lower court had erred by granting the defendants' request for summary judgment in the case before giving the plaintiffs the opportunity to gain access to certain pretrial documents and other information they had sought.

A December 1984 gas leak at the Union Carbide Corp pesticide plant in central India -- the world's worst industrial disaster -- killed an estimated 3,800 people who inhaled toxic fumes, according to figures from the Indian government. Many more have died from gas-related illnesses.

Union Carbide, now owned by Dow Chemical Co, paid $470 million in compensation in 1989. Union Carbide, along with former chief executive Warren Anderson, are defendants in the water pollution lawsuit.

The lawsuit was brought on behalf of people who lived or worked near the Bhopal plant who say they suffered ailments including cancer and neurological damage caused by contaminated groundwater. The legal claims were first brought in 1999 after a study by environmental group Greenpeace found widespread water contamination in the area, said Richard Lewis, one of the lawyers for the plaintiffs.

"We've waited since 1999 to get our day in court and we look forward to proceeding," Lewis, of law firm Cohen Milstein Hausfeld & Toll, said on Monday.

Union Carbide said that the appeals court ruling was based on a procedural issue -- not the merits of the case -- and that it believed the claims would ultimately be dismissed.

"The Second Circuit did not discuss the merits of the case or the merits of the trial judge's ruling of dismissal, and its decision should not be interpreted as a ruling on the merits," said Union Carbide spokesman Tomm Sprick. He said the trial judge "has consistently ruled to dismiss claims" against the defendants as the issues have come before him.

In its ruling, the appeals court said the lower court judge, U.S. District Judge John Keenan, had erred by converting a motion to dismiss by the defendants into a motion for summary judgment -- which closed the case.

By doing that, "we conclude that the district court did not give the plaintiffs sufficient notice to allow them adequately to respond to the converted summary judgment motion," the ruling said.

The lawsuit is seeking class-action status and unspecified monetary damages. The plaintiffs contend there are potentially thousands of people in Bhopal who have suffered injuries linked to the polluted water.

A lawsuit against Dow Chemical Co.'s Union Carbide stemming from the fatal 1984 chemical leak in Bhopal, India, was reinstated today by a U.S. appeals court.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in New York reinstated claims dismissed by a trial judge in 2006 and 2007 against the unit of Midland, Michigan-based Dow Chemical, the largest U.S. chemical maker. The appeals court said the judge didn't give the plaintiffs enough notice to respond to a dismissal bid by the company.

The suit was brought on behalf of people injured after the world's worst industrial accident, which killed thousands. H. Rajan Sharma, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, said the decision will enable the plaintiffs to conduct discovery to determine Union Carbide's role in groundwater contamination from an abandoned chemical facility in Bhopal.

``We're seeking cleanup, monitoring, and damages for personal injury to at least 20,000 individuals, and property damage,'' Sharma said in an interview.

Union Carbide estimated that 3,800 people died from the gas leak. Amnesty International, a human rights group, commissioned a study that showed 7,000 died within days of the leak, and that another 15,000 have since died from exposure to the gas. Dow Chemical paid $12 billion to acquire Union Carbide.

``The Second Circuit didn't discuss the merits of the case or the merits of the trial judge's ruling of dismissal,'' Tomm Sprick, a Union Carbide spokesman, said today in a phone interview. ``It is our belief that the trial judge will follow the Second Circuit's direction to allow additional proceedings.''

Warren Anderson

The suit, which also names former Union Carbide Chairman Warren Anderson, follows years of litigation. The lower court judge dismissed both an earlier lawsuit and this one. The appeals court ruled that U.S. District Judge John Keenan in New York didn't give the plaintiffs enough notice before he entertained and granted Union Carbide's dismissal bid.

The suit by Janki Bai Sahu seeks class-action, or group, status on behalf of others harmed by the water contamination.

Sharma said the plaintiffs will get to review internal Union Carbide documents and question officials before answering to the company's dismissal request.

The case is Sahu v. Union Carbide, 06-5694, U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals (Manhattan).

To contact the reporter on this story: David Glovin in Manhattan federal court at dglovin@bloomberg.net