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March 31, 2006

Peacock in peril

Indians can no longer be proud as a peacock. The national bird is being pushed to the brink of extinction. Poaching, indiscriminate use of pesticides and lax laws to nab those who kill the peacocks for their feathers, all add up to an endangered peacock population, writes Aditi Tandon.

Photos by Karam Singh

THE national bird of India is struggling for survival. The peacock population is dwindling fast due to habitat loss, contamination of food sources and poaching. Ironically, until today no census has been conducted of the peacock. Non-feasibility has been cited as the only reason. The sole stock-taking of the peacock population in India was done by WWF India in 1991. It revealed that India was left with only 50 per cent of the total peacock population that existed at the time of Partition in 1947. While the green peacock is already believed to be extinct, the peacock may soon end up on the critically endangered list. According to the Earth Island Journal, a journal that focuses on the environment and wildlife,"Farmers use pesticides to battle termites. After munching seeds treated with these insecticides, male peacocks have been seen falling from trees, unable to fly."

In great demand for their feathers and flesh, peacocks are being mercilessly hunted down all over from Rajasthan and peripheral Delhi to Haryana and adjoining Punjab, once a rich peacock belt. Peacocks are also targeted for their fat which, some mistake as a cure for arthritis.

Poaching is the most vital cause of the plummeting peacock population across India , followed by environmental contamination caused by sprinkling of heavy pesticides and insecticides in the fields.

The most recent case of poaching surfaced in a Hoshiarpur forest in Punjab on February 29 when two honorary wildlife wardens Gunraj Singh and Sukhdeep Singh Bajwa caught SDM Pathankot with the "kill". To the utter amazement of wildlife enthusiasts, the SDM managed bail in an otherwise non-bailable offence, punishable with three years imprisonment and Rs 10,000 fine. Further investigations conducted by the Wildlife Institute, Dehra Dun which said the bird died due to gunshot wounds, stood in sharp contrast to reports of the local Hoshiarpur Veterinary Hospital, which said the birds died due to suffocation.

The report added that a detailed examination was not possible because the birds were rotten. While the case is lingering, with the honorary wildlife wardens under tremendous pressure to compromise, it is to be seen if a conviction in an offence against the national bird comes through, especially when the over-all conviction rate under the Wildlife Protection Act is abysmally low.

In Punjab alone, only two poaching cases (one in Ludhiana and the other in Ropar) reached the court in the past three years. Wildlife Department officials confirm that in both the cases the alleged culprits were let off after being sent to a 14-day judicial remand, despite the fact that the peacock is protected under Section 51, 1-A of the Wildlife Protection Act and its killing is strictly prohibited.

Of the few prosecutions in the peacock killing cases in India, a landmark case, pursued till the prosecution stage in India involved Lt Gen Baljit Singh (retd), the then Chief of Staff Central Command at McCluskieganj near Ranchi, Bihar. Following the killing of two peacocks in his area of command, Lt Gen Baljit Singh launched a campaign to redeem the honour of the national bird. It was in this case that the first-ever prosecution of the two suspected culprits happened. Ever since, the rate of prosecution has been dipping, while conviction is unheard of in cases registered under the Wildlife Protection Act.

With rates of conviction so low, fowlers and poachers find it easy to stalk the birds and kill them for feathers. K.M. Thakur, Regional Deputy Director, Wildlife Preservation, Northern Range, New Delhi, when contacted, said though export, import and internal trade of peacock had been banned under the Wildlife Protection Act. "Only shed feathers are allowed to be used for the small scale industry. But poaching of the peacock is rampant in Punjab, Haryana and around Delhi. It is difficult to determine how many peacocks have been lost over the years because a census of the bird has not been done till date. It is not feasible. As of today, the peacock-rich belts are Haryana, adjoining Punjab, Rajasthan, Delhi, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh."

Admitting to large-scale poaching, Delhi-based Brig Ranjit Talwar from WWF India, reasoned, "Poaching of peacock is done for white meat. While the young ones are mainly trapped for eating, male peacocks are killed for feathers. Actually, the law permits collection of moulted feathers, but once the feathers have been used in artifacts it is difficult to say whether they were shed or pulled out. Another problem in detecting violators is that most peacocks are killed outside the protected areas. That is why 99 per cent poaching cases go unreported."

A cause for concern is that most of the peacocks, according to wildlife experts, are killed during the mating season. A Punjab Wildlife Department official says, "It is the easiest to kill a male peacock during the mating season when it dances around in the open and can be easily targeted. You can well imagine how threatened the peacock species would be when the male birds are being killed just before mating. It is also easier to hunt peacocks down because they sleep in the same trees every night. The procedure of killing is simple. First the head is cut off, then the crest is ripped off and then the tail feathers. There are fowlers who are even more cruel. If they don’t want the feathers to be smeared with blood, they first trap the bird, break its legs, pull out feathers and then kill it."

Peacock deaths have also been reported due to deliberate spraying of pesticides in fields. Haryana and Punjab are peculiar examples in this case. Punjab that once had a heavy peacock concentration in Nabha-Patiala-Sangrur-Jalandhar belt now has few birds left. Haryana’s case is the same. When mortality in peacocks was reported in village Rampura in Mahendragarh on December 2, 1999, a detailed examination was carried out by experts from Chaudhary Charan Singh Hisar Agricultural University (CCHAU) in Haryana.

A team consisting of veterinary toxicologists, pathologists and external specialist were rushed to the spot to carry out investigations. The team reached in time to find one newly dead and one sick bird. The experts concluded that the peacocks died of chlorpyriphos toxicity. The mortality was among male peacocks only, which were seen picking up wheat grains from the recently sown fields. The concentration of Chlorpyriphos in the dead peacocks was found to be (0.7575 ppm), three times higher than prescribed. This level of concentration could not have been possible if the seeds were treated as per the package of practices of the university.

Referring to the CCHAU study, R.D. Jakati, Chief Wildlife Warden, Haryana says the peacocks are killed less due to poaching and more due to environmental contamination. "Farmers treat seeds with pesticide doses three times higher than recommended. The HAU study revealed high concentration of pesticide chlorpyriphos in the peacocks that died in Mahendragarh some time back. There are intermittent reports on peacock mortality due to consumption of seeds treated with pesticide 24 D, a weedicide."

To contain this dangerous trend, Haryana has launched awareness generation programmes in villages. "District-level inspectors visit three villages every month. They educate farmers on the need of using the right quantity of pesticides. But farmers have problems of low yield." Haryana wildlife officials have also written to the Agriculture Department to work out options of animal and bird friendly pesticides.

The National Bird

THE male peacock (zoological name Pavo Cristatus) is a colourful, swan-sized bird, with a fan-shaped crest of feathers, a white patch under the eye and a long, slender neck. The male of the species is more colourful than the female, with a glistening blue breast and neck and a spectacular bronze-green train of around 200 elongated feathers.

The female is brownish, slightly smaller than the male, and lacks the train. The elaborate courtship dance of the male, fanning out the tail and preening its feathers, is a gorgeous sight. The peacock is widely found in the Indian subcontinent—to the south and east of the Indus river, in Jammu and Kashmir, east Assam, south Mizoram and other places. Peacocks are related to pheasants.

Though also domesticated in villages, they are found mostly in jungles close to a waterfront. In Indian mythology, the peacock is the vehicle of Lord Karthikeyan.

How the USA saved its emblem bird

IN the 1980s, the USA woke up with a start to find that the bald-headed eagle, its emblem bird, had stopped hatching and multiplying. Its egg shells had become fragile and were cracking up in incubation. Many chemicals were also detected in the sources of its food. Because it was a national bird, a country-wide awareness campaign was launched through talk shows on TV and articles in newspapers.

For a year, mass media devoted major space to stories on the national bird and strategies for its revival. A multidisciplinary approach was adopted to arrest the fall in the bird’s population. Pesticides were banned, drives were launched to bring the bird back into the procreation cycle, it was put on the endangered list and highest penalties were fixed for harming it. Researchers’ sole job was to single out every breeding pair, mark its nest under surveillance and protect it from predators. Once the eggs hatched, supply of unadulterated food was ensured. The Americans even acted as foster parents to the birds, teaching the fledglings to fly.

The USA harnessed all its modern technology to ensure that by the turn of the century the bird had staged a comeback. Last year, the population of the eagle stabilised and it was removed from the endangered bird list.

But that was the story of a national bird in a country that cared for it.

Legal cover for Indian wildlife

THE peacock is protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Section 9 of the Act prohibits hunting of wild animals and birds specified in Schedule I, II, and III and IV, except as provided under Sections XI and XII. This classification has been made keeping in mind the significance and population of wildlife. Those highly threatened find a place in Schedule I. Section 51 of the Act prescribes a maximum imprisonment of six years, Rs 25,000 fine or both for hunting animals and birds specified on Schedule I. In case of partridges (also killed in the recent case in Hoshiarpur, Punjab), mentioned in Schedule II, Section 51 provides for a maximum imprisonment of three years, Rs 25,000 fine or both. In case of Haryana, where the partridge is a state bird, its hunting is a non-bailable offence. Even though the punitive measures under law are exhaustive, the enforcement is very poor. Wildlife Department officials admit that out of 100 killings of a peacock, just one is reported. Although a case is sometimes registered under the Wildlife Protection Act, it never reaches court because of several inducements for key witnesses of poaching. Even if the case reaches court, the lack of awareness about Wildlife Act provisions invariably results in miscarriage of justice. That is why one hardly hears of convictions under the Wildlife Protection Act.

India set a precedent by formulating The Wild Birds Protection Act of 1887, the first law for the protection of wildlife wealth. Later, India had the Wild Bird and Animals Protection Act in 1912, prohibiting capture, killing, selling, buying or possession of specified animals or birds. With future amendments, wildlife sanctuaries were set up to promote wildlife conservation. The Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, became a watershed because it addressed various aspects of the issue. In 1986, trade or commerce in trophies and animal articles was prohibited. The 1991, an amendment made punishments more stringent. It also banned trade in imported ivory and products and transportation of wildlife or products without permission.

Posted by bhola at 05:11 PM | Comments (0)

March 30, 2006

The Hindu: Letters to the Editor

BHOPAL TRAGEDY

Tuesday March 30, 2006

The action of the Delhi police, in arresting over 100 protesters demanding the rehabilitation of the survivors of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy, is disappointing. Given that the protesters were assembling peacefully for a permitted rally, none should have been arrested. This kind of treatment is unfortunate.

Girija Sankaranarayanan,
Decatur, Georgia, U.S.

The police action speaks of official apathy. How much longer do the victims have to wait for proper rehabilitation?

M. Chandra Mowli,
Hyderabad

Posted by bhola at 12:31 AM | Comments (0)

March 24, 2006

Bhopal gas victims to meet Manmohan Singh

From NewKerala.com

Bhopal: Over 100 victims of the Bhopal gas disaster have threatened to sit on a hunger strike in New Delhi if Prime Minister Manmohan Singh does not heed their demands to provide relief to the survivors of the 1984 industrial tragedy.

The survivors, who set off on a 900-km foot march from the now-defunct Union Carbide pesticide plant here to the Indian capital, are demanding the prime minister's intervention in ensuring "justice and a life of dignity for themselves and their ilk".

The survivors, slated to reach New Delhi Saturday, will submit their six-point charter of demands to Manmohan Singh.

"We expect to meet the prime minister any day between March 27 and March 31," said Rachna Dhingra, of the Bhopal Group for Information & Action (BGIA), which is leading the march.

Speaking to IANS by phone from Faridabad, bordering Delhi, where they are taking out a rally in association with the local unit of the Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS), she said: "In case the prime minister fails to listen to us we will sit on an indefinite hunger strike."

BGIA is an organisation of gas survivors. Three other similar bodies joining the march are: Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh (BGPMSKS), Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha (BGPMPSM) and Bhopal Ki Aawaaz (BKA).

The marchers include survivors up to 70 years age. There are also some teenagers who live in the localities and areas affected by ground water contamination caused by the leak of over 40 tonnes of lethal methyl iso cyanate gas from the Union Carbide's pesticide plant on the night of Dec 2-3, 1984. The leak, which killed an estimated 20,000 people and maimed several thousands for life, is described as one of the world's worst industrial disasters.

According to the organisations, ground water samples collected near the Union Carbide plant have shown contamination levels 10 times higher than in other areas. High levels of heavy metals such as nickel, chromium, mercury, lead and other toxic materials have also been found in the soil.

"Mercury and lead contamination have found their way into the breast milk of those living in the gas-affected localities near the Carbide plant. Many pregnant women aborted while many had still born births," claimed Satinath Shadangi, BGIA president, citing studies.

"We are taking out this march to remind the prime minister that the condition of the people affected by the tragedy has not improved. They are still drinking poison. We want him to know that his intervention is required to provide relief to the people," he said.

He said the gas leak had led to "menstrual chaos amongst girls and women" with menopause coming to them at age 27 to 30.

"Our demands include immediate supply of safe water to the communities suffering from ground water contamination, speedy prosecution of Union Carbide Corporation and its officials and blacklisting of Dow Chemical (which bought Union Carbide in 2001) till it pays for environmental and health damages caused due to reckless dumping of hazardous wastes, besides setting up of a National Commission on Bhopal for long term medical care, research and economic and social rehabilitation of the victims," said Champa Devi Shukla, who leads BGPMSKS.

"The Bhopal disaster must be made part of educational curricula and a memorial to the disaster victims should be erected," said Rashida Bi.

Thousands of survivors, including those born after the disaster, are still battling the after effects of the deadly leak - from illnesses ranging from deep psychiatric disorders, stunted growth and severe gynaecological problems in the case of women.

Posted by bhola at 02:46 PM | Comments (0)

March 16, 2006

Corporate mass murder

BY ROB GOWLAND WRITING IN THE GUARDIAN

Of course, I don’t know if it was deliberate, although I like to think it was. It’s the romantic in me.

A week or so ago, George W Bush was in India, glad-handing everyone in sight while furiously stoking a hi-tech arms race on the sub-continent.

A week later, SBS ran the very outspoken documentary One Night In Bhopal, recreating the night in 1984 when operations at the US-owned Union Carbide plant in the Indian city of Bhopal went pear-shaped and killed over 7000 people.

Union Carbide were aware that the plant’s design was flawed, that catastrophic failure releasing clouds of the extremely toxic chemical methyl isocyanate (MIC) as a heavier--than-air gas across the city was possible.

But they didn't tell the locals. Nor did they instruct the people of the city in basic safety measures in the event of a gas leak. That would have left the company open to compensation claims.

The Bhopal plant was established to manufacture a pesticide that Union Carbide told the Indian Government would help Indian farmers fight crop disease and feed the poor, and make millions of dollars (for Union Carbide, of course, not for Indian farmers).

Like other transnational corpor-ations elsewhere, Union Carbide's reasons for locating the plant in India had nothing to do with bettering the lives of Third World people.

It had everything to do with low construction and operating costs (and hence higher profits) and looser occupational health and safety laws as well as much weaker environmental protection laws.

One cannot escape the realisation that Union Carbide were doing what a host of other transnational corporations do: siting their potentially toxic plants and other dangerous facilities in Third World countries, so that any victims will be poor (and hence relatively powerless) and above all not white.

Imagine the ruckus if the Bhopal plant had been in Dallas or Melbourne, and had caused 7,000 middle class whites to snuff it.

Even while thousands of men, women and children were dying hideous and painful deaths Union Carbide kept putting out press releases minimising the severity of the Bhopal gas leak, "hosing down" the calamity until it had become stale news and would go away.

So confident and arrogant were they that the company’s CEO actually flew to Bhopal to see the site of what he persisted in calling "this incident" for himself. Unfortunately, the local Chief of Police, Swaraj Puri, who had experienced the horrors of that night at first hand, took the opportunity to do the logical thing and arrested him for manslaughter.

The newsreel footage shows the corporate big-shot shaken to the core at having been arrested because people had died as a result of his company’s pursuit of greater profit. I mean, he is clearly thinking, "What's next? Arresting employers for not protecting workers' safety on the job?"

Union Carbide, however, is one of the USA's most powerful corporations, so its CEO was speedily released on bail. He promptly jumped on a plane back to the States and never returned to stand trial.

He nowadays divides his time between his residences in New England and Florida, his sleep untroubled by any fears that the US Government might actually extradite him to India.

I doubt too that his sleep is troubled by nightmare visions of people coughing uncontrollably until they drowned from the liquid in their lungs. That is the vision the people of Bhopal had to live with as their family members died around them.

Today the effects are still being felt there; on average one person a day still dies as a result of what happened that night 22 years ago in Bhopal.

Bush’s visit to India was not without incident either. Wherever the US President went, he was greeted by flag-waving protestors chanting "Go back Bush!"

That, of course, is par for the course as far as Presidential visits are concerned these days. Only the White House lawn and Camp David seem free of protestors.

Not that Bush probably sees any of them, any more than he saw the Indian protestors: his motorcade has so much security there is no possibility of actually seeing the people in the streets.

One of Bush's top priorities during his Indian visit was to drive a wedge between India and China, and if possible to derail the India-China-Russia mutual defence agreement. His approach had a singular dichotomy: sometimes – with varying degrees of subtlety – he threatened India with dire consequences if the country did not accept America’s leadership in all things.

At other times, he sought to position himself – and the USA – as India's lifelong friend and ally. Had he watched One Night In Bhopal he would have been given a clear indication of exactly what to do.

Extraditing the CEO of Union Carbide to India to stand trial would be a very popular act in India (not to mention in a number of other countries where transnational corporations tend to throw their weight around).

Somehow, however, I just cannot see the Bush White House doing it. Can you?

Posted by bhola at 04:52 PM | Comments (0)

March 11, 2006

Alive and dead in the gassed Old Town

22 YEARS AFTER BHOPAL REVISITED - PART 1 OF AN IMPORTANT TEHELKA.COM INVESTIGATION

Two decades after the Bhopal gas tragedy the victims have been reduced to abject suffering by the political and medical establishment, reports Betwa Sharma

As a law student in Bhopal and documentary filmmaker, I have been a witness to the lives of the gas victims. Here, I will try to establish the pitiful condition of the victims after 22 years vis-à-vis indices of compensation, health, environment and social justice.

The affected people have received compensation through diverse channels in the last two decades. Initially, they were placed under different categories based on the severity of their injuries; 90 percent of them received Rs 25,000 which is the minimum amount given for the least serious injuries. Then there was compensation for ‘special categories’ like widows and orphans. These too were negligible sums.

The tragedy occurred in 1984, the compensation was distributed in 1992. For the most crucial years soon after the tragedy — the people had no monetary aid to fund their medical expenditure, no source of livelihood. To rectify this extreme set of problems, an interim compensation of Rs 200 per month was provided. The interim compensation that was awarded was eventually deducted from the final compensation that was distributed to the people.

Who robbed me of my eyes? Victims of the gas tragedy in a protest

This issue has yet to be resolved. Over the past 22 years, the condition of a victim may have deteriorated or newer ailments may have emerged, but what good would Rs 25,000 do? It was pitiable 20 years ago — now it is simply unacceptable.

The strategic thinking of the judiciary and the government over the years has been unpredictable. In retrospect, the initial move of parens patrie which awards sole guardianship of the victims to the government, restricting them from filing individual suits and seeking redressal from the Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), has done little to secure any aid for them. They had little or no role to play in the proceedings and eventually were stuck with the paltry sum of Rs 470 million agreed upon by the Union of India and UCC in an out-of-court settlement. How and why this settlement was reached will remain a mystery, although it wasn’t completely unexpected, as the amount demanded by the government kept decreasing at every stage of the legal battle and some of India’s sharpest legal minds continued to back the UCC. Parens patrie did nothing more than dish out an inadequate amount of compensation to mute and ailing spectators after a prolonged, agonising wait.

To make matters worse there was no source of income: the business and capacity to work had been immobilised. Medical bills were exorbitant and there was no certainty that people were being given the required treatment. Medical negligence and lack of knowledge on the part of doctors and institutions like the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) was astounding. There were sustained efforts by the UCC to downplay the medical injuries caused to the victims.

Even as the years passed by, the terrible situation did not improve, the secrecy and collusion on the part of the Indian authorities with the UCC in connection with medical research made matters worse. The complete details of the components and effects of the methyl isocyanate gas have still not been released by the UCC office in the US. The medical infrastructure provided in the early stages was minimal; hundreds of victims were cramped in two-three hospitals. Today, seven medical institutions have been set up through various judicial orders. These, till date, are not fully functional, their state of the art equipment is rusting as doctors do not have the expertise to operate them and patients do not have the money or inclination to use them. After two decades, the agencies put in place, to make these people ‘healthier’, have abjectly failed or rapidly failing.

Old wounds still simmering: protest rally in Bhopal: AP Photo

A small respite came with the historical Supreme Court order for pro rata distribution of compensation in October 2005. This basically meant that all the victims who had received compensation in 1992 would get the same amount in 2004-05. This essentially means that 90 percent of the people would once again receive Rs 25,000. The first controversy came with the proposal to extend the number of wards in which the money was to be distributed. This met with opposition — a fixed sum of money was to be distributed to a larger number of people in wards that had not even been affected! Was this a ploy by ministers and politicians to enlarge their vote bank?

This issue is yet to be resolved. The distribution of money was a mechanical process wholly disconnected with the nature of injury suffered by the person. Over the past 22 years, the condition of a victim may have deteriorated or newer ailments may have emerged, but what good would Rs 25,000 do? It was pitiable two decades ago — now it is simply unacceptable.

But the pro rata distribution advocates made a strong case by pointing out the obvious glitch of ‘false claims’. This implies that a victim would have to prove that he was entitled to a higher sum of money on account of a serious, persisting ailment due to the effects of the gas and not due to any other reason. Requirement to produce this kind of medical evidence would put a tremendous burden on the victim — most of them are barely literate and may not have retained the relevant medical records. Besides, distributing compensation based on individual medical cases would make execution of the apex court order a long-winding process, defeating the objective of expeditious disposal of money and would only add to the existing backlog of cases.

Does this mean that the order has been used by the establishment to dispose off the remaining liability while feeling morally satisfied? Or was it a prudent move to secure the interests of a large gamut of the victims?

To be continued...

Posted by bhola at 05:05 PM | Comments (0)

March 10, 2006

Pain uninterrupted in a cursed city

PART II OF AN IMPORTANT TEHELKA.COM INVESTIGATION

Victims continue to be poisoned two decades after the tragedy as the government has failed to detect the polluted sources of air and water, reports Betwa Sharma

BHOPAL, MARCH 2006
A solution to fast deliverance of justice lies in assessing the role of the judges in the distribution of compensation. Currently, the role being played by judges in the make-shift courts is to see whether the victim has the right papers and to check whether he/she qualifies. Imagine the plight of a victim who is barely able to stand in front of the judge, or enters with several tubes attached to his body, or has a disfigured eye. Isn’t it more than obvious that they cannot be compensated under the settlement ceiling of Rs 25,000? The money should have been distributed on the basis of injury-assessment, which would have rectified the lacunae of the first compensation. It may have taken more time and money, but after 20 years, it would have been worth it.

The manner in which the compensation is distributed is appalling. A victim is called to the court on a particular date with their papers; no time is given for hearing. She has to wait for her turn the whole day as the bailiff may anytime yell ‘haazir ho’ (be present). This second round of money will not be of great help to the victim. Two cases, filed recently, are pending before the Supreme Court. The first case is about placing the government as liable to makeup for the shortfall arising between the reported number of injuries and deaths, which have doubled, and the actual number reported. Hence a specific sum of money was distributed among a larger number of people which resulted in large scale dismissal of genuine claims, most people receiving a minimal sum. The number of categories under which people could receive compensation were also decreased from 12 to six. This shortfall also needs to be redressed.

Another suit was filed for those who did not claim earlier. They mistook the interim compensation as being final and did not claim for the 2nd compensation. They too must receive their due along with the people suffering from fresh ailments caused by the polluted ground water and air still seeped in toxic chemicals. Various new reports have now proved that the water around certain wards is heavily polluted with toxins and metals. Certain wells had to be abandoned. There is an acute water shortage and the municipality is not able to cope with it. The state government is trying to beat the crisis by sending in water tankers to the slums around the factory site, but they are not sufficient to meet the demands, leading to occasional violence.

More disturbing is the fact that all related polluted sources of air and water have not been detected and many are still unaware of the toxins present in the drinking water and the air they breathe. So far, Dow Chemicals, which has taken over Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), refuses to clean up the area on the assertion that ucc discharged all its liabilities in the 1989 settlement with the Union Of India. As the words ‘liability’ and ‘responsibility’ become the subject of intricate and oppressive interpretation, the residents of Bhopal continue to be poisoned.

To be continued...

Posted by bhola at 04:30 PM | Comments (0)

March 04, 2006

India supports terrorism (in pictures)

Bhopal

You remember Bhopal?

Was it terrorism?

Union Carbide thought so.

At first they claimed it was a Sikh.

Then they blamed their own workers.

But they were guilty.

And Union Carbide...

...and its CEO Warren Anderson...

...were charged by the Indian Government with culpable homicide.

They chose to flee...

...and remain fugitives from justice.

In 2001 they were bought by Dow.

You remember Dow.

They sold chemicals to Saddam Hussein...

...despite warnings he might use them as chemical weapons.

Hussein was also close with this man...

...later hired as Secretary of Defense...

...by the man who ordered this.

India recently welcomed that man...

...you know, the President...

...as well as the guest he brought with him.

Andrew Liveris, the CEO of Dow.

Here he is meeting with P. Chidambaram, the Indian Finance Minister.

India is an important market for Dow.

“The Indian subcontinent has a high potential for growth,” says Andrew Liveris, Dow president and CEO. “If we are to share in that growth, we need to be more closely linked with what’s going on in the area.”

Wait a second.

Doesn’t he look like this man?

That would make sense.

Both are chemical terrorists...

...supported by the United States.

India supports the United States...

...although it refuses to extradite Warren Anderson for trial.

India also supports Dow...

...although they refuse to submit Union Carbide for trial.

India supports terrorism.

We oppose it.

Help us.

Posted by zinda at 04:53 AM | Comments (0)

March 02, 2006

Dow Chemical's work plans "fundamentally flawed" and "critically deficient" says EPA

Lone Tree Council and TRW
Dioxin Update
February 21st, 2006 # 63
www.trwnews.net

The recent work plans submitted by Dow Chemical to MDEQ which were at the center of the recent DEQ- Dow meeting on Feb. 9th, have been reviewed by EPA Region V and the review is highly critical of Dow's plans. The work plans are of highest priority because they determine how the state proceeds with cleanup.

The Saginsaw River, polluted by Dow

Failing to pass scientific scrutiny within EPA Dow once again submits plans so deficient as to be transparent. No company with the resources that Dow has can consistently submit plans so inadequate and so lacking unless it is by design. Like the Consent Order in 2002, the Risk Assessment in 2002, the Scopes of Work in 2003 and the IRA's, Dow's intentions are to deliberately:

* Ignore compliance with their license
* Delay defining the extent of their contamination
* Deny the toxicity of dioxin
* Rewrite the science to benefit them
* Rewrite the laws that govern them
* Delay Cleanup

It's a legitimate question to ask if "voluntary corrective action" really works or if it's just a burden on the taxpayers as it drains resources and tax dollars within our budget strapped DEQ. Not to mention the natural resource and public health implications associated with deliberate delays created by a corporation that has no interest in being responsible. Under the provisions of voluntary corrective action the State of Michigan has spent years working with Dow to bring them into compliance. Folks it's not working!

The Tittabawassee River, polluted by 9800 ppt of Dow's dioxins against a Michigan state clean up level of 90 ppt

Some snippets of EPA's comments to MDEQ.

"The Human Health Risk Assessment Work Plans (HHRAWPs), as proposed by Dow in the RIWPs, do not comply with EPA risk assessment policy and guidance and, therefore, cannot be approved by EPA" -----What are the odds Dow doesn't know what the EPA policy is? Dow just chose to ignore the policy because it doesn't fit their agenda.

"Dow's current proposal to use approximately one sample to characterize each mile of river (25 samples per 22 miles of river) is unacceptable".

The Tittabawassee in Midland, where Dow has its HQ

Dow has argued that no actions toward final remediation can take place until such time as we understand what properties are contaminated and how much contamination there is. Yet Dow repeatedly puts up every road block possible to delay information gathering.

"Dow's proposal in the M-RIWP to delay Phase II sampling until 2008 is not acceptable to EPA. Rather, to avoid this unnecessary delay in the remedial investigation and to minimize any ongoing exposure and associated risks, EPA requests that MDEQ require Dow to initiate the Phase II sampling, described within the M-RIWP, no later than Spring of 2006"

How Dow Chemical loves those delays.

You can read all of EPA's comments on the TRW web site.
www.trwnews.net or contact me and I will send them to you.

Much of what Dow is attempting to do with a rewrite of the science and the law is in an attempt to get out ahead of the release of Dioxin Reassessment at EPA. Again, Dow Chemical is the only entity that continues to deny, at the expense of public health, the toxicity of dioxin.

Through sheer political force, lobbying and local philanthropy Dow has been able to outflank regulatory agencies, rules, laws or anything else that constrains their profitability. Dow has been able to ruin the commons and trespass onto personal property and properties owned by the people of the State of Michigan almost with impunity and Dow's dioxin will migrate to Lake Huron poisoning another entire eco-system and economic resource for decades.

While Dow is busy hanging their diamonds all over Saginaw County and
ingratiating themselves with all the movers, shakers and policy makers, please, see it for what it is, a public relations campaign to avoid being responsible. The very thing we demand of government and individuals we should expect from Dow. There are responsible corporations - Dow just isn't one of them.

Best regards,

Michelle Hurd Riddick
Lone Tree Council

Posted by bhola at 10:22 AM | Comments (0)

March 01, 2006

Korean soldiers & Vietnamese civilians sue Dow & Monsanto for poisoning them with herbicide Agent Orange

KOREANS, VIETNAMESE JOIN HANDS FOR AGENT ORANGE COMPENSATION

By Kim Tong-hyung, Staff Reporter, Korean Times

Korean war veterans and Vietnamese civilians will make joint efforts to seek compensation from U.S. manufacturers of Agent Orange for their alleged damage from the defoliant chemical widely used during the Vietnam War.

The retired soldiers and war-zone civilians from both countries have
recently been engaged in legal battles over the harmful effects of Agent Orange, claiming that exposure to it caused skin disease, diabetes, cancer and birth defects.

The Korean Victims of Agent Orange Veterans Association (KAOVA) said it will join a group of Vietnamese civilians to hold a rally in front of the White House in Washington sometime during April, calling for the U.S. government to provide a framework for compensation.

The Vietnamese group had their compensation claim rejected by a U.S. federal court in New York last year, which ruled that there is no proven link between Agent Orange and the medical conditions suggested by the plaintiffs such as birth defects, miscarriage and cancer.

The KAOVA said it plans to hold a seminar in Hanoi next month with its
Vietnamese counterpart to discuss their joint efforts for compensation, which could possibly include further legal actions.

It is the first time that the civilians of both countries have joined
efforts to seek compensation from the U.S. government and its contractors for wartime damages.

"We hope that our planned rally in Washington will increase international focus on the people suffering from effects caused by exposure to Agent Orange," said KAOVA spokesman Kang Chang-ub.

"More than one million former soldiers and civilians in Vietnam are
suffering from the effects from Agent Orange, so combining efforts with them will certainly help our cause," he said.

"The recent ruling by the Seoul High Court and other recent studies
acknowledging the chemical¹s association with various medical conditions will certainly add strength to our call for compensation," he said.

According to U.S. government records, the American army used more than 19 million gallons of Agent Orange to spray around Vietnam¹s battlegrounds from 1962 to 1971, hoping to destroy forest cover and undergrowth that shielded enemy troops from view.

War veterans from Korea, the U.S. and Vietnam, along with a large number of civilians, claimed they have been suffering from severe medical effects caused by exposure to chemical.

Korea sent more than 320,000 troops to Vietnam to fight alongside the United States against the North Vietnamese communist forces during the 1965-73 war, accounting for the largest outside contribution.

According to the Ministry of Patriots and Veteran Affairs, there are more than 131,000 Koreans who claim they have suffered from illnesses associated with Agent Orange.

In a landmark decision last month, the Seoul High Court ruled two U.S. makers of Agent Orange, Dow Chemical and Monsanto, to pay 63 billion won ($62 million) to a group of 6,700 Korean war veterans who first filed lawsuits against the U.S. companies in 1999.

The court associated Agent Orange with 11 types of medical conditions,
including non-Hodgkin¹s lymphoma, Hodgkin¹s disease, prostate cancer and diabetes.

It also added that the defoliants produced by the U.S. companies contained dioxins, toxic substances known to cause cancer in humans, in excess of permitted levels.

However, the ruling had more of a symbolic value than actual impact, as there is little Korean authorities could do should the U.S. chemical makers refuse to abide by the court orders, since both companies have no listed properties in Korea.

Although Korean authorities could seize the patent rights owned by the U.S. companies, their combined value is believed to be minuscule compared with the 63 billion won the High Court ordered in compensation.

If the U.S. companies refuse to pay the plaintiffs, the Korean war veterans will have to take their legal battle to the United States for possible compensation. However, a U.S. court has already rejected a compensation claim by Korean war veterans in 1994.

Over contentious lawsuits in past years, a U.S. court has never associated Agent Orange with health problems other than minor skin disorders, citing the lack of scientific proof that the defoliant was linked serious conditions such as cancer and birth defects.

In 1984, seven U.S. chemical companies, including Dow Chemical and Monsanto, paid out $180 million won to U.S. war veterans who claimed that they suffered medical conditions caused by Agent Orange.

However, it was settlement reached after a federal judge persuaded the
companies to buy themselves out of protracted litigation, with none of them admitting of doing anything wrong.

In rejecting the claims of the Vietnamese groups last year, the U.S. federal court also ruled that the chemical companies cannot be held liable for the medical damages since they were ordered by the U.S. government to produce Agent Orange.

KAOVA officials hope that new scientific evidence gathered over the years about the dangers of Agent Orange could provide them some hope in possible court battles in the future.

thkim@koreatimes.co.kr
02-15-2006 17:45

Posted by bhola at 05:51 PM | Comments (0)