What Union Carbide's "compensation" is worth
 

"Some of the world's poorest people, beggared by one the world's richest corporations" (Bhopal Medical Appeal, 1994)

Most people injured by Carbide's gases got no more than $500 compensation. Many got nothing at all. The money was meant to last a lifetime, to provide for medical expenses and recompense them for lost earnings.

This was the $500 of which Dow Chemical's Kathy Hunt infamously remarked "$500 is plenty good for an Indian".

Stretched out over the twenty-one years that have passed since the gas disaster, Carbide's largesse is currently worth less than 7¢ a day  - and dwindling. Well, here's what 7¢ buys in Bhopal.

One glass of Pappu's very nice Bhopali chai


To find out exactly what 7¢ (UK 4 pence, in Euros, 5 cents) buys, we went to Bhopal’s Arif Nagar shopping area and got the latest prices of some medicines. If you gave up your cup of tea, you could buy:

MEDICINES

11/2 drops of ABCDE vitamin complex by Parke Davis
or
1 tablet of Gliclazide (by Alembic, you may need up to 4 a
day for diabetes)
or
1/5 of a tablet of conjugated oestrogen (Premarin by Wyeth
Lederle) for delayed puberty, painful periods and
other problems
or
1 capsule of Amoxycillin (Bigmo 250 mg from Astra-IDL)
an antibiotic commonly used
for infections of the lung and
lung and urinary tract
or
3 tablets of Ibuprofen (Ibugesic 600 mg produced by Cipla)
you may need to take all three in a day

Many survivors in Bhopal have acute respiratory problems
and need inhalers. The cheapest inhaler costs 35 times what
Carbide’s ‘compensation’ amounts to per day.

Hardly what you could call medical care. ‘Plenty good’ for
Dow Chemical (Union Carbide) but nobody else.

FOOD & DRINK

30 grams (1 ounce) of tea
or
4.2 grams (0.15 ounces) of cardamom
or
200 grams (7 ounces) of poha (flattened rice)
or
300 grams (10.5 ounces) of the cheapest rice
or
136 grams (4.75 ounces)of the cheapest urad daal, if you prefer tuwar you can only afford 111 grams (3.9 ounces)
or
a little over 9 grams (0.3 ounces) of garam masala
or
50 grams (1.75 ounces) of turmeric or chilli or coriander powder
or
25 grams (0.9 ounces) of cumin seeds.

1 gram = 0.035 ounces

And finally, a totally unfair comparison

American sea-otters harmed in the Exxon Valdez oil spill on the coast of Alaska were helped to recovery by meals of fresh lobster, flown in at a cost of $500 a day, according to the Times of India.

Or to look at it another way…

The average cost of rehabilitating a seal after the Exxon Valdez oil was $80,000. At a special ceremony, two of the most expensively saved animals were released back into the wild amid cheers and applause from onlookers. A minute later, in full view, they were both eaten by a killer whale. (Ed: I forget where this nugget came from but it will be on the net.)

If this strikes you as more than a little unjust, please help by making a donation to help those who are still suffering

You can either choose to support the work of the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB) which works to obtain justice, fair compensation, provision for proper medical care and economic rehabilitation for the Bhopal survivors.

or

You can help provide medical relief for people who are seriously ill. Your medical donation will go to the Sambhavna Trust Clinic in Bhopal, which gives free treatment and medicines to those still suffering the effects of the poison gases of "that night" 21 years ago, as well to the new generation poisoned by birth-defect- and cancer-causing chemicals leaking from Union Carbide's abandoned and derelict factory.

Sambhavna has won many international awards for its work, including the prestigious 2002 Margaret Mead Award, which is given "to small groups of people who make a big difference in the world".

 

 

 

 




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