I was listening to activists on Democracy Now! last night. Union Carbide and now Dow have still never released a report detailing what all of agents released were. Also, they still have yet to compensate any of the victims or clean up the site. If it was in West Virigina (they had a plant producing the same stuff) you can bet the out cry would be huge.

"I was listening to activists on Democracy Now! last night. Union Carbide and now Dow have still never released a report detailing what all of agents released were. Also, they still have yet to compensate any of the victims or clean up the site."

Some things that Democracy Now! might have neglected to mention.

Union Carbide paid the Indian government $470million in full satisfaction of all individual claims by 1989. (The settlement was ratified by the Indian Supreme Court as "Just, equitable and reasonable.") The government has somehow not yet gotten around to paying individuals. (Anyone want to do the numbers on what $470M x 15 YEARS of investment yields?)

Union Carbide sold the physical plant at Bhopal to a consortium of Indian businesses/individuals/government for little more than the promise to remediate the site. (Union Carbide then paid the proceeds of the sale into a charitiable hospital.) There were also criminal charges pending against management during these "negotiations" but that probably had no influence, right?

Dow bought the ASSETS of Union Carbide in 2001, not the company. Long after the event, long after payment was made, the plant sold. But hey, Dow has cash why not sue them too? Good thought. The Indians are trying to amend to name Dow. The current threat is to sieze Dow's assets in the whole country if it does not appear in the action. I hesitate to say defend itself, because that doesn't seem possible.

The Indian government is allowing the establishment of slums (no better term) in the immediate area with full knowledge of the contaminated ground water.

I doubt the West Virginian government would take the same steps, do you?

By the way, none of this relates to the actual cause of and responsibility for the incident.

Union Carbide, the Indian Government and an investigation by Arthur D. Little Co. determined that the chain of failures could only be sabotage. The Indian Government is also aware of the identity of the employee and the evidence against him. No action so far.

"Union Carbide paid the Indian government "

How do you spell "cover up". These individual victims have still not been compensated to this day and Union Carbide has pretended the whole thing never happened.

If it had happened in the USA or any western country would UC have paid the government 470 million and just walked away as if nothing had ever happened?

Why does it have to be a cover up? Is it possible that the individuals had no choice in the matter and that the government assumed the right to collect $$ on behalf of the individuals? How about some respect for different legal systems?

That is the way the government wanted it done. If Union Carbide "insisted" on some other way, would you be talking about Yankee Imperialism?

In response to your direct question, the fact that the individuals have not be paid is ENTIRELY the fault of the government. Union Carbide PAID the money. How is it responsible for the failure of the GOVERNMENT to pay the individuals?

By no stretch of the imagination can Union Carbide be seen to have "pretended the whole thing never happened>"

"How is it responsible for the failure of the GOVERNMENT to pay the individuals? "

UC knew what they were doing. It's called a "pay off".

It would never happened on US soil. UC built that factory in India only because they could do so with out meeting western environmental standards. It was sub standard and unsafe to western standards and they wanted to squeeze extra profits by going into a third world country that allowed them to cut corners.

It may be true that the Indian government didn't care about the workers, but UC didn't give a damn either.

Aren't you taking paternalism just a bit too far?

Is it possible that the Government of India has a clue to resolve a mass casualty tort?

Is it possible that the plant complied with and exceeded all of the applicable standards?

Why must the answer be Union Carbide is a bad guy? By what standard should the matter be judged? U.S. law? Canadian Law? (looser than US in some matters, by the by) How about by the laws of INDIA?

"It may be true that the Indian government didn't care about the workers, but UC didn't give a damn either. "

It may be true? Why the hesitancy to belive that the government, which, under its laws had an absolute right to assume responsibility for the individual claims and to take all further responsiblity for remediation?

Why is Union Carbide evil incarnate when it paid MORE money than legally obligated? What standard is appropriate in your opinion?

I wouldn't say democracy now! nelected to mention them. They interviewed an indian activist, he may have. The Union Carbide rep from Dow sent in 2 audio clips which Amy Goodman played.

I'm not sure about Indian Law but in america a manufacturer is responsible for the waste they produce from cradle to grave. Meaning even if the plant was sold (in america) UC would be responsible for cleanup.

I also didn't know about the payment to the indian government. I'm appalled that they haven't taken step to make the site safe and help the people.

I wouldn't say the Indian government has been entirely blameless. There's more about it here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/bhopal/default.stm

Union Carbide and Dow Chemical get their say here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/bhopal/4023447.stm

But like you someone said, does anyone think this would be ok if it happened in the home country of the companies involved?

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http://pavlov.psyc.queensu.ca/~psyc382/rockgold.html
(Norman Rockwell's "Do Unto Others")

Make that the second worst, you're forgetting Chernobyl...

And why should this matter any more today than it did then? What's your point?

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Cousin Elwood - Team Over-the-hill Racing
Brought to you by the good folks at Metamucil and Geritol...

This is completely untrue. The basis for building a plant in India is local producer ecomonics. Any idea how much it costs to manufacture in the US? It is extrememly expensive, even taking out the people and environmental aspects. Natural gas and oil are extremely expensive here. Then guess how much is costs to ship material around the world from one location. Huge $$ and it takes 6-8 weeks to get product to the destination. You cannot make money doing it that way. We ( I work for a chemical company) manufacture at different sites all over the world because that is the only way to make a profit. Safety standards don't come into play because all reputable large companies have global minimum standards, meaning the safety and EH&S standards are the same no matter where we manufacture.

Next, UC did give payment to the Indian govt- the Prime Ministers Relief Fund. The Indian govt required that the money be paid to them, NOT the victims. The govt said they would take the money and manage the distribution. They did not. Actually, in July of this year, there was still money in the fund and the Indian supreme court ordered the govt to release the funds. To my knowledge that has not yet happened. Is UC expected to just keep giving the govt money, even thought is is not reaching the intended recipients?

UC did begin clean-up effort after the leak, under the direction of the govt. In 1994 the govt took control of the facility and UC "sold" their interest in the company. It became Everready Industries until 1998 when the govt took complete control and responsibility for the site. It sounds like remediation never resumed.

As an FYI- UC only owned approximatley 51% of this company at the time of the incident- the rest was owned by the Indian govt.

My point is this: This was and is a tragic incident. The people of India are forced to live in a awful situation and my heart breaks for them. However, it is not always the big, evil corporations that are the bad guys!!! In this incident, there is cause for anger and protest but needs to be directed appropriately. Greenpeace and all these groups protest UC and Dow without concern for the real facts. Perhaps if they directed their protests to the right source there may be better progress. Perhaps if they cared about resolution they wouldn't let their hatred of these large companies get in the way of doing the right thing

You are obviously much more informed than I am <who could have guessed that after listening to 15 minutes on a radio show I wouldn't be an expert :( >.

I know that the safety inspection done at Bhopal showed some deficitencies (it is public information, I believe the report was done by MIT). I would be suspicious if the report didn't have any since it is almost impossible to be in 100% compliance with any regulation set in a large industrial facility. And since a worker added huge amounts of water to the system which caused the reaction, how are you supposed to protect against that sort of activity? If I knew I would be making a lot more money than I am now working for the chemical industry.

I agree with the last part of your response whole heartedly, large corporations are not always the evil entities they are made out to be in a lot of developing countries they build infrastructure to support their facilities and also hire workers. (yes, before anyone ask I have been to developing countries as part of a company expansion, Brazil was the worst).