An influential US lawmaker has asked the Dow Chemicals to clean up its factory site in Bhopal and fund necessary medical care and research studies to treat the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy.
“Dow should clean up the factory site, which continues to contaminate the local environment and should go beyond simply providing compensation to the victims,” Frank Pallone, Democratic Congressman from New Jersey, told the US House of Representatives.
“Dow should also fund the necessary medical care and research studies necessary to treat victims and offer them the chance to live fruitful lives not plagued by chemical affects,” Pallone said in his speech on the occasion of 25th anniversary of the Bhopal gas tragedy.
“It is simply unbelievable that Union Carbide refused to acknowledge which chemicals and gases were leaked for fear of legal liability. This left doctors to treat patients with no knowledge of how to proceed or what treatment to use,” he said.
Union Carbide’s use of unsafe and untested technologies led to one of the worst chemical disasters in world history. Rather than acknowledge the devastation it created and fully pay for the damages, Union Carbide decided to walk away, Pallone said.
Last year, Pallone and 15 other Congressmen wrote to the Prime Minister Singh to express support for the people of Bhopal and urged him to personally meet with survivor groups to address the long-standing demands for justice.
Keywords: Frank Pallone, Bhopal gas tragedy, Dow Chemicals, factory, victims, chemical disasters, Bhopal
It is ridiculous to see how the upper management of Dow chemicals did not taken even a single step to resolve the issue....noe the Indian govt. taken necessary step to punish the culprit.
How shameful it is!!!!
I second Balaji's remark. While it (sentiment of politicians in NJ) may be true, the larger truth is the fact that several governments in our country seems to be oblivious of the fact that the disaster occurred due to negligence (concluded after reading several news articles), and to me it seems that they are still in search of "conclusive evidence" to implicate the Dow Chemical (present owner of the Union Carbide) for this. This kind of attitude from our government (several in succession) sometimes forces me to question - are they here to serve the people who elected them or clear the multinationals from their wrong doing?
If DoW is not to be considered liable for Bhopal then Obama has no blame BP for the gulf spill.
You must understand this is the real politics. We must stop controversy on 90 year old Anderson and get Dow Chemicals to take the responsibility for compensation and clean up. It's outragious that our govt/judiciary let Union Carbide walk away easily paying less than half a millon $. Rememmber, you cannot touch Mr Anderson simply because he is a US citizen. We may not value our citizens, but they do. US judiciary value human lives a thousand times more than our judiciary does. So, go after Dow Chemicals through a US court and make them compensate adequately for the damage.
Well, NJ has a huge indian population, so statements from politicians here are simply meant to secure the Indian vote.
The Indian government does not have the confidence to challenge the US and to demand that Dow clean up the toxic site, as they should. We are back to square one - Disaster of 1984 killed thousands, injured many more. Today, courtesy Dow, people are being poisoned again because the waste has not been cleaned up. Its Bhopal 2.0. Would you hold your breath waiting for the Indian government to take charge?
Come on India.
A major spill happened in your country and no body cares.
I googled and wikepedaded this disaster. Union carbide should pay for this tragedy not the innocent people.
Just imagine if you were one of the victims. Do the right thing Dow chemicals.
Pay for the clean-up. You cannot get the lost lifes atleast care for the living victims.
It was very unfortunate that a far away country could understand the pain, but our elected representatives could not make a resolution for many years.
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