Starved Of Justice, Bhopal Gas Victims Stop Eating

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        Subject:   Starved Of Justice, Bhopal Gas Victims Stop Eating
            Date:    Tue, 9 Jul 2002 17:54:06 -0400
           From:      Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization:     Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)

To:     Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
          Director, State of California, Department of Pesticide Regulation 

cc:    Christine Whitman whitman.christine@epa.gov

Press Release July 09, 2002
Starved of justice, Bhopal gas victims stop eating
New Delhi, July 8, 2002.  Outside the Indian parliament in temperatures of 115^oC three campaigners from Bhopal, central India - scene of the 1984 Union Carbide gas disaster which has killed over 20,000 people to date - are entering their eleventh day of a hunger strike in protest at the Indian government’s plans to water down criminal charges still outstanding against officials of the former US chemical giant. Already all three protestors have falling blood sugar levels and have lost at least 7 kg since beginning their fast on 29 June.

The three hunger strikers, who will carry on their action indefinitely, are demanding that charges of eleven years standing are maintained and that liabilities resulting from criminal charges are transferred to Dow Chemicals, now the owner of Union Carbide: ‘the Indian government have sold themselves to US corporations’, said Satinath Sarangi, a Bhopal activist, who has joined two female survivors of the deadly gas leak in the protest. The survivors relate that on 24 May, while the world fretted over Kashmir, the Central Bureau of Investigation, working under the Home Ministry, applied in a Bhopal court to dilute outstanding charges against Mr. Warren Anderson, former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Union Carbide corporation, from "culpable homicide" to "negligence"

While culpable homicide draws a penalty of 10 years imprisonment and fines, "negligence " carries a punishment of up to two years in prison or fine and is not an extraditable offence. Expressing outrage at the Indian Government’s action, author Dominique Lapierre, whose recently published book ‘It Was Five Past Midnight in Bhopal’ documented the company’s slide towards the disaster, fumed, ‘Mr Anderson is guilty of having let the safety conditions of his plant degrade so much the final tragedy became inevitable, and he is therefore responsible for the involuntarily killing of six times more people than Bin Laden did in New York. To reduce this tremendous responsibility to a mere “negligence” is a total and absolute distortion of the truth.’

So far 94 percent of the survivors, 150,000 of whom are chronically ill the hunger strikers emphasise, have received a meagre one off payment of £220 for their lifetime loss of health and livelihood. ‘These criminal charges are the one thing to emerge from the Bhopal tragedy that might deter another corporation from putting greed before safety,' commented Indra Sinha of the UK's Bhopal justice campaign. 'By trying to dilute these charges the Indian Government is handing multinational corporations permission to kill and pollute wherever they please.' The UK group will protest outside the Indian High Commission in London this Wednesday, joining the fast in a solidarity action.

Notes for journalists:

• On Sunday 8 July, the 9th day of their hunger strike, the hunger strikers continue to lose weight. Tara Bai, 35, is under close observation because her blood sugar levels had dropped to 38 on Saturday. She suffered a miscarriage soon after the disaster and had not been able to conceive since then. Rashida Bi, 46, also a gas victim, has registered a substantial increase in blood pressure too. According to the doctor present, Rashida is showing symptoms of starvation and her frail health - she suffers from diminished vision, acute episodes of headache and panic attacks  may cause complications. She is President of Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh, and has lost five gas-exposed members of her family due to cancer. Sathyu, 48, a member of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action, is doing better under the circumstances. Hopes and spirits remain high. Survivors from Bhopal, at least 50 of whom are constantly present at the site of the protest, keep them up by singing songs and chanting slogans. See www.corpwatchindia.org
• The hunger strikers allege that the government’s decisions are a direct result of behind-the-scenes pressure by Dow Chemical, who made Union Carbide a wholly owned subsidiary in February 2001. Until now, criminal proceedings against Union Carbide were difficult to enforce legally because, though the accused refuse to appear in Court, Union Carbide no longer has any assets in India. However, Dow's $10 billion acquisition of Union Carbide opened the possibility of enforcing criminal liability against the corporation as Dow has four subsidiaries and substantial assets in India. It is believed that an intensified campaign by the Bhopal survivors and their international supporters to hold Dow liable for the crimes of Carbide has caused Dow's insecurity and hence their pressure on the Government of India to effectively close the files.

The hunger strikers strongly demand that:

• The Home Ministry direct the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to withdraw its application for dilution of charges before the 17 July hearings at the Bhopal Magistrates court and take immediate steps to extradite Warren Anderson.
• The Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers rescind its decision of distributing to the 20 newly-added wards compensation funds that rightfully belong to the survivors of the Carbide disaster.
• The Government of India act rapidly to hold Dow Chemicals, Carbides new owner, responsible for the pending medical and environmental rehabilitation liabilities in Bhopal.

Fact file
December 2-3, 1984- Poisonous gas leak from Union Carbides pesticides factory. First Information Report filed on 4 December.
December 7- Prime accused Warren Anderson, nine others arrested, released on bail of Rs 25,000.
1989- Government and Union Carbide strike a settlement. The compensation amount is brought down to $470 million from $3.3 billion.
April 1992- Anderson declared a fugitive from law.
September 1996- Supreme Court diluted charges against Indian officials of Union Carbide India Limited (subsidiary majority owned by Union Carbide Corporation [UCC]), partly on grounds that culpability lies with UCC.
August 1999- Union Carbide announces merger with Dow Chemical Company.
February 2000- Merger occurs. Dow should have inherited assets as well as liabilities of Union Carbide. However, Dow said that they are not responsible for a factory they did not operate. The survivors say Dow should be held responsible for all pending medical and environmental liabilities in Bhopal.
May 24, 2002- CBI submitted the report that caused the present spark. The application submitted by the CBI modified the charges from homicide to rash and negligent act.

Contact: 
Indra Sinha
Bhopal Medical Appeal
Email  indra.sinha@virgin.net

Or Tim Edwards
Bhopal Justice Campaign, UK
Email timedwards@hotmail.com

Well Mr. Helliker, Maybe Union Carbide should sue India under Chapter 11 and demand the corporation's "rights" like the US corporations want to do in Quebec.  I believe one day "someone" will be held responsible for all of this unnecessary POLLUTION, DISEASE and DEATH.  Protect the PEOPLE and not corporate profit$!  Stop the torture and death of the innocents!  Please allow the use of safe and far more effective unregistered alternatives.  I have posted a free pest control book on the web that uses safe and far more effective alternatives, it is entitled: THE BUG STOPS HERE.  You can download it for free at: http://www.thebestcontrol.com .  

 Respectfully,  Stephen L. Tvedten

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