BBC, Bhopal and Dow Scam

[asian1]

Hi
BBC News was fooled by 2 members of "YES MEN" scam team.
They setup fake WWW.DOW-CHEMICAL.COM and pretend to be representative of Dow Chemical Inc, the buyer of Union Carbide Inc, the ownner of Bhopal chemical plant that exploded in 1984.

The YES MEN team said that Dow Chemical plant to pay compesation to all victims and clean up the mess at Bhopal.

This fake statement cause the crash of Dow shares in the US market and celebration in Bhopal.

The REAL Dow Chemical Inc release statement that:
1. The 2 men does not work for Dow Chemical and does not represent Dow Chemical.
2. Bhopal accident is caused by sabotage, and the plant owner is Union Carbide India, not Union Carbide Inc (International). Therefore Dow (the new owner of Union Carbide) IS NOT RESPONSIBLE for the accidents and WILL NOT pay the compesation and clean up charges.

Is this a cruel joke?
Why BBC News did not check the real DOW website?
(WWW.DOW.COM)
Why Dow Chemical did not buy the domain of the fake website, to prevent various problems / scams?

[Karlos]

I remember studying the Bhopal incident for an essay during my degree. It was shocking.

Did you know, for example, that Union Carbide - at the time of the disaster - hindered appropriate medical treatment for thousands of people by denying it could be anytrhing to do with cyanide poisoning?

Only when the Doctors began treating the victims with thiosulfate (used to mop up cyanide in the body which is then urinated out) was there any noticable improvement in their condition. By then thousands were already dead and many more blinded.

Two men had been left to hose down a tank full of an isocyanate compound that was getting warmer. It was getting warmer due to a reaction that was breaking it down into all sorts of organocyanide compounds. Once the temperature of the tank exceeded a certian level, they panicked and ran. Soon the tank ruptured.

The investigation into the Bhopal disaster found that Union Carbide was totally responsible for the disaster. It did accept moral responsibility and agreed a compensation package with the Indian Government. Alas this amounted to a meagre 300 USD per person affected.

The area is still toxic and has not cleaned up.

10,000 people died as a direct consequence and that a total of 500,000 people have died from secondary effects since (tumours etc).

There has never been a formal apology for this and other than the 300USD compensation per head given after the investigation, nothing has been done for the people there.

-edited by me: trollsome remark rephrased -

Consider this the next time someone justifies the military action in Iraq based on Saddams behaviour, especially the gassing of innocent people. Bhopal may have been an accident, but the behaviour of the company has been one of total disregard for the needless suffering it has caused and has long since washed its hands of all responsibility*, regardless of its' original admission.

If a foregein company had behaved the same way in the US, I wonder how far people would go to see justice done?

*responsibility in the sense that it should lift a finger to help

[asian1]

>European company in US - No clean up

Hi
IMO Indian Government should launch new lawsuits with support from UN and US EPA.
The plant in Bhopal was build by Union Carbide India based on technology & safety standard from Union Carbide International.
UC Int'l also train UC India technicians and engineers about various safety measure in plant operation.

If the Safety procedure & safety training cannot provide enough backup to prevent the explosion, the it's the Union Carbide Int'l fault.

On the Indian court, the "sabotage" theory was rejected, based on various testimony. The accident is caused by negligence, lack of training and experience. Apparently UC Int'l did not provide enough training and instruction about the safety and emergency procedure on the plant.

Not as dramatic as Bhopal, but ABB run into problems because their Asbestos related product in US:

http://www.forbes.com/global/2003/0106/019_print.html

=================================================

When ABB acquired Combustion Engineering, a U.S. maker of power plant equipment, in 1990, the European industrial company knew that there were outstanding asbestos lawsuits. But after it ran the numbers, the risk seemed manageable. After all, Combustion Engineering wasn't mining or manufacturing asbestos; it was only selling boilers with asbestos insulation. It was hardly on the front lines of asbestos litigation.
It is now. ABB faces U.S. asbestos liabilities estimated to be from $2 billion to $3 billion. The company is trying to put that unit into bankruptcy to protect itself from claims that are already far in excess of Combustion Engineering's assets of $812 million. ABB has paid out $1 billion in claims and is trying to cap the unit's future liability at $1.1 billion.

[T_Bone]

As I understood it, the Indian government was paid millions of dollars, and nothing went to improving anything for any of these people. Dow was infuriated that this money was simply being pocketed by the Indian government, and since has tried to compensate the victims directly.

[the_leander]

IF the Indian Government had pocketed the cash it wouldn't have suprised me, it would suprise me however if UC actualy did anything. Companies in general (and this applies to companies regardless of what country they are based in) will if faced with such a thing do everything in their power to squirm out of admitting any responsibility, because in a lot of cases, bophal being a good example, if they ever did admit even the slightest amount of responsibility, it would bankrupt them in an instant.

Erin Brokowich, great film, true story, hidious results for the people of hinkley. And almost identical tactics used by the company named in the film - blame it on the local plant, deny any knolledge on the part of the parent company. I believe the phrase is "plausable deniability".

The scumbags should have been put up against the wall the moment this happened. The people who said that the chemicals were no more then an irritant, should be subjected to the same chemicals and then asked if they still feel it is just an irritant.

Sorry, I'm not normally so violent in my outbursts, but this trajedy and hundreds of others like it all around the world could easily have been avoided were it not for the desire to "save a few more bucks".

 :pissed:  :pissed:  :pissed:  :pissed:  :pissed:  :pissed:

[PMC]

It's disgusting alright, I remember the TV reports of the Bhopal disaster back in 1984, and the numbers of people affected was staggering.

I did also read that the Indian Government was paid compensation, but even an amount of say $10 million won't go far when 500,000 people were maimed as a result.

Dow DOES however have a responsibility to clean up the Bhopal plant. It's been deactivated, but there's been no cleanup operation.  It's another environmental disaster in the making, at what cost?