BOYCOTT DOWLYMPIC!

Dow Chemicals are sponsoring the London Olympics, gaining millions of pounds of contracts and boosting their reputation. The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games is supposed to promote environmental, social and ethical issues, but Dow is responsible for this ongoing humanitarian and environmental disaster. 1984 saw the biggest industrial disaster in human history. A Union Carbide factory in Bhopal leaked toxic gas, killing 7000 to 10,000 people in just a few days. Today the death toll has reached at least 25,000, and an estimated 500,000 have been affected. Survivors suffer extreme health problems, the groundwater is contaminated, and birth defects in Bhopal are many times higher than the average in India. In 2001, Union Carbide (UCC) was bought by Dow Chemical, so the responsibility to adequately compensate the gas victims, clean up the site and compensate those poisoned by the contaminated water falls to Dow. Dow Chemicals are the prime example of an unethical sponsor, their subsidiary is wanted on criminal charges of culpable homicide and the IOC are looking increasingly like a faceless and shameless corporation. 25,000 people have died as a result of the Bhopal Gas Disaster and people are still being poisoned today. There has never been a clean up of Union Carbide’s mess in Bhopal and their toxic waste is still poisoning the people of Bhopal. The toxic waste has leached into the water table and tens of thousands of people have no choice but to drink this diluted poison. Unsettled court cases name Dow Chemical, and subsidiary Union Carbide, as respondents. Dow’s subsidiary Union Carbide faces criminal charges of culpable homicide. By refusing to present its subsidiary in court to face charges of ‘culpable homicide’, Dow is sheltering Union Carbide, the perpetrators of the 1984 Bhopal Disaster from the law, and preventing justice being done. 120,000 people in Bhopal are estimated to live with chronic health problems because of the disaster, and because of the water contamination caused by Union Carbide dumping its toxic waste in the ground, which has leached into the water supply for over 30,000 people. Dow, the official ‘chemistry partner’ of the Olympics, has a grim history. When Nazi war criminal Otto Ambros (also known as Doctor Death), convicted for crimes against humanity at Auschwitz, was released Dow happily employed him. In Vietnam, Dow found plenty of uses for their deadly chemistry as one of the major suppliers of Agent Orange and with their own product, Napalm. The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and IOC must stop defending Dow’s toxic legacy, and apologise to the survivors of Bhopal for allowing Dow to be part of London Olympics. India should boycott London Olympic if Dow Chemicals are not dropped from its sponsors list if she considers the 1984 Bhopal Victims as Indians.