Dow runs scared from water

Dow runs scared from water

www.theyesmen.org

A new, beautifully-designed line of bottled water - this time not from the melting Alps, nor from faraway, clean-water-deprived Fiji, but rather from the contaminated ground near the site of the 1984 Bhopal catastrophe - scared Dow Chemical's London management team into hiding today.

Twenty Bhopal activists, including Sathyu Sarangi of the Sambhavna Clinic in Bhopal, showed up at Dow headquarters near London to find that the entire building had been vacated.

(visit the link for the full news article)

This is rich.

For those who've forgotten on December 3rd 1984 42 tons toxic methyl isocyanate gas was released from the Union Carbide plant there...to quote from wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org...

...exposing more than 500,000 people to toxic gases. The first official immediate death toll was 2,259. A more generally accepted figure is that 8,000- 10,000 died within 72 hours, and it is estimated that 25,000 have since died from gas-related diseases...

Later Dow Chemical bought Union Carbide and has fought payingany compensation claims since...

BUT... to again quote the wikipedia article:

Already in 1982 tubewells in the vicinity of the UCC factory had to be abandoned. In 1991 the municipal authorities declared water from over 100 tubewells to be unfit for drinking.

Carbide's laboratory tests in 1989 revealed that soil and water samples collected from near the factory were toxic to fish. 21 sites inside the plant were highly polluted. In 1994 it was reported that 21% of the factory premises were seriously contaminated with chemicals.

Studies made by Greenpeace and others from soil, groundwater, wellwater and vegetables from the residential areas around UCIL and from the UCIL factory area show contamination with a range of toxic heavy metals and chemical compounds.

Substances found, according to the reports, are naphthol, naphthalene, Sevin, tarry residues, alpha napthol, mercury, organochlorines, chromium, copper, nickel, lead, hexachlorethane, hexachlorobuta-diene, pesticide HCH (BHC), volatile organic compounds and halo-organics. Many of these contaminants were also found in breast milk.

In 2002, an inquiry found a number of toxins, including mercury, lead, trichlorobenzene, dichloromethane and chloroform, in nursing women's breast milk. Well water and groundwater tests conducted in the surrounding areas in 1999 showed mercury levels to be at "20,000 and 6 million times" higher than expected levels; heavy metals and organochlorines were present in the soil. Chemicals that have been linked to various forms of cancer were also discovered, as well as trichloroethene, known to impair fetal development, at 50 times above safety limits specified by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

In an investigation broadcast on BBC Radio 5 on November 14, 2004, it was reported that the site is still contaminated with 'thousands' of metric tons of toxic chemicals, including benzene hexachloride and mercury, held in open containers or loose on the ground. A sample of drinking water from a well near the site had levels of contamination 500 times higher than the maximum limits recommended by the World Health Organization.

So when Dow Chemical who as I said still opposes paying compensation to the survivors heard that activists were bringing some of that polluted water to their London office...

They hauled their sorry asses outta there.

Wonder why?



www.theyesmen.org
(visit the link for the full news article)

Even if the water is fresh and uncotaminated, this is extreme cynicism and a blatant slap in the face to the families of those that died and suffer from the original accident.
What company is involved in the bottling of the water? Dow Chemical?


EDIT: ah excuse me, I was so incensed I didn't read the article properly. They were bringing attention to their plight *blush*

[edit on 15/7/2009 by deltaalphanovember]

reply to post by grover


Even though I feel sick to my stomach at this I'm still grateful that you posted this thread. How long will we tolerate, ignore or disbelieve that CORPORATIONS will go to any length to secure their profits?

reply to post by Hazelnut


I agree...the older I get the more I feel nothing but disgust and contempt for the multi-nationals.

The U.S. and European governments of the late 18th and early 19th centuries were right in the limiting of the scope and length of corporate charters...they believed rightly as it has long since proved that by spreading ownership via stocks and having boards instead of owners that it was simply a way of avoiding responsiblity for their actions.

short profile from 2000 about Dow Chemical...

Dow Chemical

Founded : 1897, Michigan
Primary industry/service : Chemical Manufacturer
Total revenue : $18,929mil (fiscal year 1999)
Net revenue : $1,326mil (fiscal year 1999) Fortune 500 : #89
Current CEO : William S. Stavropoulos
CEO salary : $2.7 million
Philanthropy : $20mil (1997) 1.5% of net revenues
www.stanford.edu...

SUBSIDIARIES OF THE DOW CHEMICAL COMPANY

Name - Location - % owned by DOW Chem.
Admiral Equipment Co. Delaware 100
Admiral Equipment Japan Ltd. (Admiral Nihon K.K.) Japan 100
Arabian Chemical Company Limited (1) Saudi Arabia 50
Arabian Chemical Company (Latex) Limited (1) Saudi Arabia 50
Boride Products, Inc. Michigan 100
DC Partnership Management Inc. Delaware 100
DowBrands L.P. (9) Delaware 1
DCOMCO, Inc. Delaware 100
DCU/LB Trust (1) California 50
DVCA-21 Holding, C.A. Venezuela 100
Dow Venezuela, C.A. Venezuela 100
CV Services Ltd. Cayman Islands 100
Destec Energy, Inc. Delaware 76
Destec Europe S.A. France 100
Destec Holdings, Inc. Delaware 100
Destec Ventures, Inc. Delaware 100
Louisiana Gasification Technology, Inc. Delaware 100
Dexco Polymers (1) Texas 50
Diamond Capital Management Inc. Delaware 100
Diamond Technology Partnership Company (10) Delaware 88
Chemtech Royalty Associates, L.P. (11) Delaware 81
Chemtech Portfolio Inc. Texas 100
Ifco Inc. Delaware 100
Dow Environmental Inc. Delaware 100
Dow America Latina S.A. Uruguay 100
Dow Austria Ges. mbH Austria 100
Dow Centroamerica S.A. Costa Rica 100
Dow Chemical (Australia) Limited Australia 100
Dow Australia Superannuation Fund A Pty Ltd Australia 100
Dow Australia Superannuation Fund B Pty Ltd Australia 100
Dow Chemical Canada Inc. Canada 100
Dow Capital B.V. Netherlands 100
Dow International Financial Services Ireland 100
Dow Capital Public Limited Company Ireland 100
Dow International Service Center, N.V. Belgium 100
Dow Pipeline Ltd. Canada 100
DowBrands Canada Inc. Canada 100
Fort Saskatchewan Ethylene Storage
Limited Partnership (1) Canada 50
H-D Tech Inc. (1) Canada 50
Dow Chemical (China) Ltd. Delaware 100
Dow Chemical Company Limited United Kingdom 100
Cromarty Petroleum Company Limited (1) United Kingdom 50
Dow Chemical Delaware Corp. Delaware 100
Dow Chemical (Hong Kong) Limited Hong Kong 100
Dow Chemical International Inc. (Panama) Panama 100


and much much more is revealed here:
www.secinfo.com...

reply to post by warrenb


Another corporation that refuses to consider their harmful/deadly impact on natural resources and human life is Coca-Cola. I read about the plight of the communities in India affected by the bottling methods of Coca-Cola over a year ago. The struggle continues with Coke denying their operations are harmful to the environment and attributing the protests to "extremists"!

Communities Reject Coca-Cola in India

To highlight these issues, we are profiling a series of community struggles against Coca-Cola in India, all of which point to a pattern in the company's operations. The communities are left thirsting as Coca-Cola draws water from the common water resources. Its operations are polluting the scarce water that remains. The emergence of local, grassroots struggles against the cola giant's operation in India should also serve as a reminder to Coca-Cola's bosses in Atlanta that this is not a public relations problem that one can just "spin" and wish away. Rather, the heart of the issue is a serious concern about control over natural resources and the right of communities to determine how business is done in their communities.

Please read this article, it iss extremely important to all of us.

Local residents in Mehdiganj, near the holy city of Varanasi, are also gearing up for a struggle against Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola has illegally occupied a portion of the common property resources of the village and was found guilty of evading payment of land revenue by a local court. Protesters were met at Coca-Cola's factory gates by about 200 police personnel, sent to "protect" the plant along with 50 gun-toting private security guards. This was not all for show-- the demonstrators were beaten up. The Coca-Cola plant in Mehdiganj enjoys heavily subsidized electricity and is accused of spewing toxics into surrounding agricultural fields as well as causing serious water shortage as a result of its operations. We have a report from Mehdiganj.

Further down the article concludes with this chilling parallel.

Coca-Cola, it seems, is on its way to soon earning the reputation that Enron enjoyed in India. Both Enron and Coca-Cola top the Foreign Direct Investment list from the US in India. Enron's Indian operations (Dabhol Power Corporation, a joint venture with Bechtel and General Electric, among others) was the single largest foreign direct investment in India and became the target of activists across the country due to irregularities in its manner of carrying out its business, including the use of armed thugs to suppress opposition. Indians had shut down Enron long before the financial scandal in the US brought the entire company down.

These mega-corporations are all holding each other's hands in corrupting the entire globe for profit. Yet, how many of us understand clearly the adverse effects caused by the manufacure of products we use everyday? Don't we even care anymore? That is what all of the major, international corporate players are "banking" on. Our ignorance and unwillingness to stand up against them, or even to try to learn what hideous methods are being employed for our "convenience". GRRRRRRR

reply to post by Hazelnut


which is why we need an anti-megacorp squad to eliminate these kinds of "terrorist" activities because destroying and polluting the planet is an act of terror against life as we know it.

Like I said go back to limiting their scope and charter and make all of the shareholders responsible for the behavior of the company...

You would see a lot of change if that happened...

This is what happens when you always put profits first.

People will often do things for their job that they would never do as moral individuals.