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November 30, 2005
Dow Chemical Shareholders' Message to Management: Address Specific Health, Environmental and Social Concerns of Bhopal, India survivors
(New York)-Concerned Dow Chemical (NYSE:DOW) shareholders announced today that they have filed a resolution with the company requesting that it address its outstanding responsibilities for the 1984 Bhopal Chemical facility explosion, which killed 15,000 and injured more than 100,000. The New York State Common Retirement Fund (NYSCRF) and the New York City Fire Department (NYCFD) Pension Fund requests that Dow Chemical provide its shareholders an explanation of new initiatives instituted by management to address social and environmental impact concerns for Bhopal survivors of the Union Carbide (UCC) Chemical disaster. UCC became a fully owned subsidiary of Dow in 2001.
The resolution was filed on behalf of NYCFD, the NYSCRF and Amnesty International USA along with Boston Common Asset Management and Sisters of Mercy Regional Community of Detroit Charitable Trust. Shareholder proponents hold over 4.5 million shares worth over $190 million.
New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. said, "Given our long investment horizon, we believe that it is our fiduciary obligation to urge companies in which we invest to be responsible corporate citizens in the communities in which they operate. This approach is critical for ensuring the viability and sustainability of business in this rapidly growing global economy. Successful companies most likely will be the ones that incorporate sustainable use of environmental and social capital in their business decisions."
Earlier this year Boston Common Asset Management and other concerned investors sent a letter to Dow Chemical's Board of Directors requesting full disclosure of the potential financial impacts on the company and its subsidiary UCC as a result of the outstanding issues related to the Bhopal disaster and the continued contamination at the site. Investors concerns also pointed to the reputational impacts on the company and the impacts this issue poses on its future market growth in Asia.
In response, Dow wrote: "We continue to believe the Company's disclosures of these matters are appropriate and in full compliance with the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and other requirements of the Securities and Exchange Commission."
Dow Shareholders believe that the company's response to disclosure on Bhopal and related social and environmental liabilities is inadequate. "I am shocked that the Board of Directors approved a response that does not address our company's responsibility to remediate the impacts of that accident on the people and their communities," said Sister Valerie Heinonen, consultant to the Sisters of Mercy Trust.
Numerous unresolved legal issues remain from the Bhopal disaster. Due to its refusal to appear in a criminal case, UCC has the status of a fugitive from justice in India. These issues have become a challenge to Dow Chemical, extending from its new subsidiary.
"Dow Chemical, with its 2001 acquisition of Union Carbide, has inherited a serious environmental issue. Management really needs to prepare for the potential liability it faces, particularly lost businesses opportunities around the world, if these issues regarding the Bhopal incident are not resolved," said New York State Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi.
"Despite ten of thousands of letters from our members, and repeated attempts by Amnesty to engage them seriously on this subject, Dow has still not adequately addressed the health or environmental needs of communities in Bhopal," said Amy O'Meara of the Business and Human Rights Program of Amnesty International USA. "Dow needs to stop pretending this isn't their problem, and start dealing with it."
Posted by Shevardnadze at 07:22 PM | Comments (0)
November 20, 2005
Carbide victims serve "firman" on Dow
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha
Bhopal ki Aawaaz
November 21, 2005
PRESS STATEMENT
Over 300 residents from the communities next to the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal today marched to the Headquarters of the Indian subsidiary of American multinational Dow Chemical Company at Chembur to issue a 'firmaan' (proclamation) against the corporation.
The demonstrators charged Dow, the present owner of Union Carbide with "criminal indifference" towards the health of over 20 thousand people living next to the factory that was abandoned along with thousands of tons of chemical waste after the World's worst industrial disaster in December 1984.
The presence of highly toxic and cancer causing chemicals such as Lindane, Chloroform, Chlorobenzenes and heavy metals such as Mercury and Lead have been identified in the ground water up to a radius of 3 kilometers. Sample analysis of human breast milk has confirmed the presence of mercury, chlorobenzene and other toxic material and the 'firman' mentions thousands of new born babies nursing on poison every year.
Shahid Noor, President of Bhopal ki Aawaaz [Voice of Bhopal] an organization of people orphaned by the disaster, charged Dow with following double standards.
"After taking over Union Carbide in February 2001, Dow continued to honour Union Carbide's liabilities in USA, but when it comes to Carbide's continuing liabilities in Bhopal, Dow says they have just taken over the assets, not the liabilities. It is this policy of double standards that caused the death and destruction in Bhopal", says Mr Noor who lost his parents and a brother due to the disaster.
The Bhopal 'firman' also commands Dow Chemical to stop the production and marketing of Dursban* an insecticide that is banned in USA since year 2000 in India. In 2003 the corporation had to pay a fine of 2 million dollars for 'false advertisement' with regard to the health effects of Dursban. Several studies including many by the US Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] have documented the adverse health effects of the chemical particularly on the brain of growing children.
The 'firman' warns Dow that direct action against their Indian business will be intensified if they continued with their negligence towards cleaning up of poisons from soil and ground water in Bhopal and the blatant double standards regarding Dursban.
"These are no empty threats, and Dow will take them lightly only at their own risk." said Mr. Syed M Irfan a victim of the "84 disaster and leader of the Bhopal Gas Peeedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha. He cited a letter from the Ministry of Petroleum that indicates that the recent cancellation of technology purchase contract between Indian Oil Corporation and Dow Chemical was largely due to the opposition of the Bhopal survivors and their international supporters.
The Bhopal 'firman' that was pasted on the walls of Dow's office informed the corporation that victims of their crimes including residents of Midland Michigan, USA, Vietnamese exposed to Agent Orange and Nicaraguan plantation workers harmed by the pesticide Nemagon, are getting together to confront Dow Chemical Company's crimes against humanity.
Syed M Irfan Shahid Noor
President President
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha Bhopal ki Aawaaz
Bhoipura, Budhwara, Bhopal Risaldar Colony, Chhola Road, Bhopal
Mob. : 9329026319 Mob. : 9826182226
Mumbai Contact : Advocate Vinode Shetty, Girni Kamgar Sangharsh Samiti, Mob : 98205 10146
*Dursban is Dow Chemical's brand name for chlorpyrifos a chemical poison invented by Nazi scientists. It is known to cause damage to the brain and death. Acute exposure can result in such symptoms as numbness, lack of coordination, dizziness, vomiting, sweating, nausea, stomach cramps, headache, vision disturbances, drowsiness, anxiety, slurred speech, depression, confusion and, in extreme cases, respiratory arrest, unconsciousness, convulsions and death. Studies have indicated that compared to adults, children may be up to twenty times more sensitive to chlorpyrifos. In India, Dow Agro Sciences has set up a manufacturing plant for Dursban in Chiplun, about 250 kilometers from Mumbai.
For more information please visit www.bhopal.net
Posted by bhola at 12:25 PM | Comments (0)
November 16, 2005
Survivors present photographic evidence of botched "clean up"
THE MADHYA PRADESH GOVERNMENT'S "WORLD CLASS" CLEAN UP
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha
Bhopal Group for Information and Action
Bhopal ki Aawaaz
Greenpeace India
November 16, 2005
PRESS CONFERENCE
At a press conference today leaders of several survivors and support organisations in Bhopal presented photographic evidence of "unscientific and unsafe" repacking of chemical waste inside the Union Carbide factory by M/s Ramky Pharma City Ltd under the Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board. The work was carried out in June this year following an order of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh. This photographic evidence was earlier presented in MP High Court that directed four NGO representatives to participate in the review and remediation of the work of repacking in its decision on October 29, 2005.
The organisations presented shocking visual evidence of drums with toxic tar leaking from them and unsealed and unlabelled bags. They pointed out that the bags used for repacking of hazardous waste were actually meant to hold plastic chips and their use was a serious violation of national and international standards.
The organizations hold M/s Ramky, Hyderabad and Dr P S Dube, Chairman, MPPCB guilty of not complying with any standards and violating even the guidelines laid out by the Central Pollution Control Board for packaging and transport of Hazardous Wastes.
Rashida Bee, President of Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh demanded severe punishment for the individuals responsible for misutilization of public money in the work of toxic waste disposal. "The work of rehabilitation of the contaminated soil and ground water in and around the Union Carbide factory is too serious a matter to be entrusted to agencies such as the Pollution Control Board that is known for its incompetence and corruption." she said.
Vinuta Gopal from Greenpeace India said that survivors and support organizations have offered to demonstrate containment of hazardous waste in a safe and scientific manner following international standards and guidelines. With regard to the final disposal of the toxic waste from Union Carbide, Ms Gopal stated that it should be shipped to USA or some OECD country at the expense of Dow Chemical, the present owner of Union Carbide. She stated that last year over 200 tonnes of toxic mercury waste from Kodaikanal in Tamilnadu were shipped to USA by the American multinational Unilever following orders from the Tamilnadu High Court.
The organizations fear that the technologies suggested by the MP Pollution Control Board and other government agencies for the disposal of hazardous waste from Bhopal Union Carbide factory are bound to cause bigger environmental problems than they are supposed to solve.
Satinath Sarangi of Bhopal Group for Information and Action said that the state government plans to dispose off part of the hazardous waste in a landfill to be dug near Peethampur, Indore and by incineration in Ankleshwar, Gujarat . According to him " Both these technologies are unscientific and unsafe for the particular chemical waste inside the Union Carbide factory. Landfilling will result in contamination of ground water in Peethampur and incineration will produce large amounts of Dioxins, the most toxic chemical in the World."
Leaders of the organizations felt vindicated by the October 29 order of the Madhya Pradesh High Court and asserted that the people poisoned by Union Carbide will not allow the disposal of hazardous waste unless the technologies proposed are safe and scientific and they follow national and international guidelines.
Rashida Bi & Champa Devi Shukla, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh, 9303132298
Syed M Irfan, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha, 9329026319
Shahid Noor, Bhopal ki Aawaaz, 9826182226
Satinath Sarangi & Rachna Dhingra, Bhopal Group for Information and Action,9826167369
Vinuta Gopal, Greenpeace India, 09845535418
Contact : House No. 12, Gali No. 2, Near Naseer Masjid, Bag Umrao Dulha, Bhopal
Posted by bhola at 08:36 AM | Comments (0)
November 14, 2005
Death Certificate of Ministry of Environment and Forests served
CAMPAIGN FOR ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IN INDIA
Press Release: Delhi, 14th Nov 2005
In a daring demonstration of strength, over 200 participants in the Campaign for Environmental Justice - India (CEJ-I), entered the highly secure Central Government Offices complex in New Delhi and held a dharna at the Paryavaran Bhavan, headquarters of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) for over five hours from the commencement of office hours.
The participation in this Campaign for Environment Justice - India involved representation from across India. Project affected communities due to Sethusamudram ship canal and Sterlite Industries from Tamil Nadu, Polavaram dam in Andhra Pradesh, Vedanta Alumina Refinery and Bauxite mining in Orissa, Narmada dam evictees, communities threatened by dam building and mining in the North Eastern states of Manipur, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, mining affected communities from Rajasthan, Jindal Steel affected from Chattisgarh, etc. were present. Similar struggles against destructive dam, thermal power, infrastructure, industrial and such other issues were represented by a host of NGOs and campaign organizations.
The main purpose of entering Paryavaran Bhavan was to demand the scrapping of the proposed reform of the Environment Impact Assessment Notification and the draft National Environmental Policy, formulated without any public consultation by Dr. Pradipto Ghosh, Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests. Dr. Ghosh is on record that he has formulated these policy and legislative reforms in consultation with the World Bank, not the Indian Parliament or any of the Legislatures and Local Elected Bodies. Not a single consultation has been held in any part of the country with local communities and elected representatives, even as Dr. Ghosh has been very busy attending consultations organized by industrial and corporate lobbies such as the Confederation of Indian Industry and FICCI.
Entering Paryavaran Bhavan at 10 am, the CEJ-I protestors sat down in the lobby and demanded that Shri. Namo Narain Meena, Union Minister of State for Forests and Dr. Ghosh come down to receive the Death Certificate issued by the people of India. Neither Shri. Meena or Dr. Ghosh had the courage to meet the wide representation of CEJ-I. Carrying a symbolic corpse of the MoEF around the CGO Complex, the CEJ-I representative performed the last rites of MoEF replete with lamenting and chest beating.
CEJ-I representatives will now meet the Prime Minister of India to serve on the Government of India this Death Certificate of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.
The Death Certificate is a symbolic gesture to announce that MoEF is dead within the context, spirit and letter of the Environment Protection Act by which it has been constituted. In the past few years, especially during the term of Dr. Ghosh, the Ministry has actively cleared high impact projects such as dams, mining, infrastructure developments, and highly polluting industries without any adherence with the Environmental Clearance processes as mandated by law.
Instead, MoEF has colluded with investors in violating every section of the EIA Notification, in particular, and accorded environmental clearance even when its own Forest Departments and Regional Offices have actively refused to extend such permissions.
Shri. A. Raja, Union Minister for Environment and Forests and Dr. Ghosh are primarily responsible for such complicity in violating the law. As a result the Ministry has become an agent of delivering highly destructive decisions that has displaced thousands of peoples from tribal and rural communities unconstitutionally, and led to the destruction of forests, rivers, coastal, desert and mountain ecosystems across this country.
In our meeting with the Prime Minister we will demand that Dr. Ghosh must be sacked for illegally formulating law and policy that would have fundamental and devastating repercussions on the environment, forests, and peoples of India. We also demand that Shri. A. Raja, Union Minister for Environment and Forests must resign for not performing per his mandated task of holding the Ministry within conformance with the law.
The representatives of CEJ-I declared that they will not observe 14 November 2005 as Children's Day given that MoEF has failed to ensure a world secure enough for children today and in future. The Death Certificate issued presents an opportunity to the Prime Minister to reconstitute MoEF in the true spirit and letter of the Environment Protection Act.
The Tamilnadu delegation has invited development-impacted communities from around the country to congregate in Perumbalur, Tamil Nadu, constituency of Shri. A. Raja to inform his electorate that the Minister has pledged the nation's natural resources to private and multinational corporations. Since the key decision makers of Shri. Raja's Ministry refused to meet the CEJ-I participants, a decision was taken to accord similar treatment to him when he visits his constituency.
Press Blocked from entering CGO Complex:
In a highly questionable move, Dr. Ghosh instructed the CISF forces who guard the CGO complex from allowing the Press to enter to cover the event. This is unprecedented when the CISF allowed a mere Secretary of a Ministry to direct it from blocking entry to the media, in total abrogation of legal and constitutional provisions protecting the press. We demand that action must be initiated against Dr. Ghosh and the CISF Paryavaran Bhavan official Shri. S. P. Ram for blatantly abrogating press freedom.
MoEF Suno:
On 13 November, CEJ-I held a Public Hearing on Stocktaking of Environmental Impact Assessment Notification and Environmental Clearance Process in India at the Constitution Club. Over 25 cases involving all sectors were presented before an experienced panel involving Justice (Retd) Sukumaran, Supreme Court; Mr. Ramaswamy Iyer, former-Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources; Usha Ramanathan, legal researcher; H. Mahadevan, National Council Member, CPI and Deputy Gen. Sec. AITUC; G. Devarajan, Secretary (Central Cmt.), Forward Bloc; Dr. K. Krishnasamy, Puthiya Thamizhagam; Jairam Ramesh, MP (Rajya Sabha) and Member, National Advisory Council; Mahua Raichowdhury, NDTV Journalist; Shekar Singh, Centre for Equity Studies; Nilotpal Basu, MP (Rajya Sabha), CPI (M); Ashok Ghosh, Member (National Working Cmt), RSP and State Sec., United Trades Union Congress.
Details at www.esgindia.org
For Campaign for Environmental Justice in India
Souparna Lahiri, Delhi Forum
Leo Saldanha/Bhargavi S. Rao, Environment Support Group, Bangalore
Madhumita Dutta/Nityanand Jayaraman, Corporate Accountability Desk (Delhi/Chennai)
Kanchi Kohli/Manju Menon Kalpavriksh (Pune/Delhi)
Ravindranath, River Basin Friends, Assam
Manshi Asher, NCAS, Pune
Ravi Rebba Pragada, Samatha, Hyderabad
Vimal Bhai, Matu People's Organisation, Uttaranchal
Rana Sengupta, Mines Labour People's Campaign, Jodhpur
Deepika D'souza/Arun/Bedoshruti, Environmental Justice Initiative (Human Rights Law Network- Mumbai)
Bharat Jairaj, Citizens' Action Group, Chennai
And the enclosed signatories of the Death Certificate of MoEF
Enclosed: Death Certificate of the MoEF
Campaign for Environmental Justice in India
DEATH CERTIFICATE
We, the people representing a wide range of tribal, rural and urban communities, the rivers and forests, wildlife and coastal regions, deserts and mountains, declare the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests dead as it has failed to protect our environment.
This death befell the Ministry by its own act of commission, omission and collusion in order to support the agenda of destructive development in India prescribed by agencies like the World Bank, IMF, and our own technocrats. Financed by grants from such institutions, Ministry officials have casually and carelessly given clearances to all and sundry, including to those investors with plans causing environmental destruction at any cost.
The cause for the Ministry's death is rigor mortis. Normally this condition visits the dead after death has occured. But the Ministry suffers from a very rare disease of the living dead. The cause of which is its penchant to twist law and policy to advantage investors at any cost. A related cause was its compulsive habit of treating with disdain the simple and wise opinion of ordinary folks across the country, who have asked for that kind of development that would benefit all. That kind of development that would not compromise the survival of wildlife and its habitats, and the livelihoods of present and future generations.
We must not mourn this death, however. Instead we must celebrate this death. For the living dead are a terrible affliction on the truly living.
For this is an opportunity for us to create anew the kind of Ministry of Environment and Forests that this great country, with its wonderful diversity of ecosytems and peoples, deserve.
Delivering this Death Certificate to the Prime Minister of India, we present the Government of India an opportunity of bringing to life a Ministry of Environment and Forests that will uphold the law of the land and serve to protect the country's environment and human rights.
Issued on the approval of peoples' groups across India, by the Campaign for Environmental Justice - in India, following a Public Hearing entitled "MoEF Suno", 13th November 2005, at Delhi.
Posted by bhola at 12:23 PM | Comments (0)