Greenpeace reveals DOW's hidden collection in Paris fashion fair
Paris, 21 September 2004 - Greenpeace displayed pictures of the victims of the world's worst industrial disaster-Bhopal-
at the opening of an international textile exhibition in Paris, where DOW Chemical, the entity responsible for the 1984
disaster presented a new fibre called XLA. Greenpeace together with ICJB (1) demand that DOW accepts full liability for
the ongoing disaster in Bhopal.
Visitors attending the release of DOW's new textile at Premier Vision's exhibition, were received by Greenpeace
activists dressed in black t-shirts revealing the faces of the victims of Bhopal and handing them information regarding
the company's corporate irresponsibility. Greenpeace is also demanding that the multinational pay the health treatments
of the survivors and clean up the large stockpiles of dangerous poisons and the contaminated underground water left
behind at the site of the accident.
"The people affected by the disaster now live in the shadow of an ongoing environmental and health catastrophe. The
banner that carries the faces of the Bhopali victims reveals the hidden collection of DOW - the real story of Bhopal
after twenty years. We, the people of Bhopal have suffered for 20 years now and it is disheartening to discover that
instead of taking responsibility for cleaning up the polluted disaster site in Bhopal and offering medical assistance to
the ailing survivors, DOW is busy making profits." Said Rani Niloufer, a 20-year-old Bhopal survivor (2).
On 3 December 1984, more than 40 tonnes of poisonous gases leaked from a storage tank at a Union Carbide (3) pesticide
factory into the heart of Bhopal city, immediately killing 8,000 people. Since then, more than 20,000 deaths have been
attributed to the disaster. Survivors and their children continue to suffer long-term health effects ranging from cancer
and tuberculosis to birth defects and chronic fevers.
In June 2004, the Government of India submitted a statement to the New York District Court on the Bhopal contamination
clean up case asking Union Carbide to carry out the Bhopal plant-site remediation. (4)
"DOW investors, and all those who will buy this fabric, should be aware that DOW has blood on their hands and no new
textile will help them hide their crimes in Bhopal. Only when they pay for all the survivors' health treatment and clean
the poisonous site, will justice be done," added Vinuta Gopal, Greenpeace campaigner from India protesting today in
Paris.
Greenpeace has been working in Bhopal since 1999 when a team of Greenpeace scientists worked with Bhopal community
groups to analyse the severity and extent of the contamination on and around the factory site. The study found
substantial and, in some locations, severe contamination of land and water supplies with heavy metals and chlorinated
chemicals.
Notes of the Editor
(1) International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal: International coalition of Indian and Bhopal survivors and
International NGOs campaigning for justice in Bhopal
(2). Rani Niloufer and Sanjay Verma were both born in 1984, the year of the disaster. They have been suffering the
effects of the toxics spread all over Bhopal since then.
(3). In 2001, the US multinational company Dow Chemicals bought Union Carbide (UCC) for USD 9.3 billion.
(4). This court has been filed by Bhopali Survivors against Union Carbide Corporate demanding their involvement of the
Clean up of the contaminated site. The court was asking for the Indian government to pass its no objection.
On July 19, 2004, the Supreme Court ordered the Government of India to distribute the balance of compensation remaining
from Union Carbide's settlement among the 566,876 Bhopal survivors whose claims have been successfully settled. The
balance of the hitherto undistributed compensation has accumulated interest and grown to Rs. 1,505 crores (some $327
million).