Bhopal Survivors Seek Help From Plant's New Owner

by Danielle Knight

More than 8,000 people died within 48 hours of the accident, at a Union Carbide pesticide plant. Doctors and survivors' advocates say an additional 20,000 people have died from chemical exposure since 1984, and at least 120,000 people remain chronically ill.

Dow officials note that the Indian government and Union Carbide settled reparations litigation in 1989 and say there are no outstanding liabilities involving the Bhopal disaster.

"Our understanding of it is that this case has been settled by the Indian courts," Joy Hutchinson, a spokesperson for Dow, told IPS.

Unhappy with the court settlement in India, health advocates and environmentalists had been trying to force Union Carbide to pay for the ongoing medical expenses of gas leak victims. When Dow acquired Union Carbide in February 2001, activists switched their focus to the Michigan-based chemical company.

"Dow must face trial and provide long-term health care, including medical care, health monitoring and research for victims of the Bhopal disaster," says Amit Srivastava, international programs coordinator at CorpWatch, a California-based advocacy group.

Activists accuse Dow of applying a racist double standard in the Bhopal case, saying the company has accepted liabilities involving other litigation against Union Carbide in the United States.

Earlier this year, Dow settled a lawsuit filed in Texas against Union Carbide, which had mined asbestos and operated an asbestos facility there.

"If Bhopal had happened in New Jersey, Dow would have already accepted responsibility for the Bhopal disaster," says Rick Hind, legislative director of Greenpeace's toxics campaign.

Following the 1984 disaster, the Indian government filed civil litigation against Union Carbide, seeking $3 billion in damages. The case was settled five years later, when Union Carbide agreed to pay the victims $470 million with the understanding that the company would be absolved of all civil and criminal liabilities with regards to the leak. Victims said they were not consulted on the settlement, which amounted to about $350 per person.

Survivors and their supporters have since said that not all the money has been properly disbursed.

In response to petitions filed by Bhopal victims, the Indian Supreme Court reinstated in 1991 all criminal cases against Union Carbide and its officials. Criminal proceedings began in a Bhopal court but Union Carbide officials, including then chief executive Warren Anderson, refused to appear in court, leaving the case in limbo.

Bhopal victims also are seeking justice in U.S. courts. Seven victims and several activist groups had filed a class action suit in 1999 against Union Carbide. In August 2000, a federal court in New York dismissed the case. But in November 2001, an appellate court reversed the ruling. Union Carbide has since filed a motion to dismiss the case.

Two health care workers from Bhopal, Satinath Sarangi and Harihar Trivedi, are touring the United States this week, telling lawmakers and health activists that people in Bhopal are still suffering long-term health effects from the disaster. They are scheduled to speak at Dow's annual shareholders' meeting on May 9.

"Every day we see three to four people coming to the clinic with chronic coughs and other health problems related to the disaster," says Trivedi, a physician.

Many more people, while not necessarily exposed to the original gas leak, have been exposed to carcinogens and other poisons that have leached into the drinking water from toxic waste abandoned at the site, says Sarangi, an administrator of the Sambhavna Clinic, which treats Bhopal victims.

"The toxic wastes that are still lying at the factory and related damages are not covered by the $470 million settlement," he says.

Union Carbide, says Sarangi, also will not release information on the types and amounts of chemicals that had been released. This information would help physicians treat patients, he says. Union Carbide denies that it has withheld information.

One known component of the leak was methyl isocyanate, which can cause neurological damage. As many as 30 different chemicals -- all posing different health risks -- may have been released, says Sarangi.

"Many of the synergistic health impacts of these chemicals are not known," he says.

U.S. activists say they are hopeful Sarangi's and Trivedi's visit to sympathetic lawmakers will prompt the formation of a small congressional delegation to India that would pressure the government to take legal action against Dow.

"There's been no firm commitment yet but it remains a very real possibility," says Casey Harrell, a toxics campaigner with Greenpeace.