The Impact of an Mnc in India

8/14/2019 The Impact of an Mnc in India

1/10

The impact of an MNC

in: Bhopal, India!


2/10

Introduction More than 20 years after the Union Carbide gas disaster in Bhopal, upwards of

100,000 people in the city are still seriously ill and the drinking water of a further20,000 has been poisoned by chemicals leaking from the abandoned plant. UnionCarbide and its 100% owner Dow Chemical, refuse to clean their factory.

A prfulfilalled, the Bhopal Medical Appeal began in Britain as a joint effort ofordinary individuals to bring free medical relief to the victims of the gas and waterdisasters. There are now supporters across the world. At the Sambhavna Clinic inBhopal all consultations, treatments, therapies and medicines are completely free.More than 16,000 people have been treated there and in 2002 the clinic won the

Margaret Mead Award which is given to small groups who make a big difference inthe world.

In April 2005 a new clinic was opened, still with support of donations to help keepthe clinic running.


3/10

happened? On the night of Dec. 2nd and 3rd, 1984, a

Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, began

leaking 27 tons of the deadly gas methylisocyanate.

None of the six safety systems designed tocontain such a leak were operational, allowingthe gas to spread throughout the city ofBhopal.

Regular maintenance had fallen into disrepairthat on the night of December 2nd , when anemployee was flushing a corroded pipe,multiple stopcocks failed and allowed water toflow freely into the largest tank of MIC.

Exposure to this water soon led to anuncontrolled reaction; the tank was blown outof its concrete sarcophagus and spewed adeadly cloud of MIC, hydrogen cyanide, monomethyl amine and other chemicals thathugged the ground.

Blown by the prevailing winds, this cloudsettled over much of Bhopal (shown right).

Soon thereafter, people began to die.


4/10

v vmemories Survivor, Champa Devi Shukla, remembers that "It felt like somebody had filled our bodies up with red chillies, our

eyes tears coming out, noses were watering, we had froth in our mouths. The coughing was so bad that people werewrithing in pain. Some people just got up and ran in whatever they were wearing or even if they were wearingnothing at all. Somebody was running this way and somebody was running that way, some people were just runningin their underclothes. People were only concerned as to how they would save their lives so they just ran.

"Those who fell were not picked up by anybody, they just kept falling, and were trampled on by other people. Peopleclimbed and scrambled over each other to save their lives even cows were running and trying to save their livesand crushing people as they ran." In those apocalyptic moments no one knew what was happening. People simplystarted dying in the most hideous ways. Some vomited uncontrollably, went into convulsions and fell dead. Otherschoked to death, drowning in their own body fluids. Many died in the stampedes through narrow gullies where streetlamps burned a dim brown through clouds of gas. The force of the human torrent wrenched children's hands fromtheir parents' grasp. Families were whirled apart," reported the Bhopal Medical Appeal in 1994.

"The poison cloud was so dense and searing that people were reduced to near blindness. As they gasped for breathits effects grew ever more suffocating. The gases burned the tissues of their eyes and lungs and attacked theirnervous systems. People lost control of their bodies. Urine and feces ran down their legs. Women lost their unborn

children as they ran, their wombs spontaneously opening in bloody abortion." According to Rashida Bi, a survivorwho lost five gas-exposed family members to cancers, those who escaped with their lives are the unlucky ones;the lucky ones are those who died on that night.


5/10

The effects? Half a million people were exposed to the gas and

20,000 died as a result of their exposure. More than120,000 people still suffer from ailments caused bythe accident and the subsequent pollution at the plantsite.

These ailments include blindness, extreme difficulty inbreathing, and gynecological disorders.

The site has never been properly cleaned up andcontinues to poison the residents of Bhopal.

In 1999, local groundwater and well water testing nearthe site of the accident revealed mercury at levelsbetween 20,000 and 6 million times those expected.

Cancer and brain-damage- and birth-defect-causing

chemicals were found in the water; trichloroethene, achemical that has been shown to impair fetaldevelopment, was found at levels 50 times higherthan EPA safety limits.

In 2001, Michigan-based chemical corporation DowChemical purchased Union Carbide, thereby acquiringits assets and liabilities. However Dow Chemical hassteadfastly refused to clean up the site, provide safedrinking water, compensate the victims, or disclose

the composition of the gas leak, information thatdoctors could use to properly treat the victims.


6/10

response? The Union Carbide factory in Bhopal built the pesticide factory there in the 1970s, thinking that India

represented a huge untapped market for its pest control products.

But sales never met the companys expectations; Indian farmers, struggling to cope with droughts andfloods, didnt have the money to buy Union Carbides pesticides. The plant, which never reached its

full capacity, proved to be a losing venture and ceased active production in the early 1980s. However vast quantities of dangerous chemicals remained; three tanks continued to hold over 60 tons

of methyl isocyanate (MIC).

The managements reasoning seemed to be that since the plant had ceased all production, no threatremained. Every safety system that had been installed to prevent a leak of MIC (at least six) ultimatelyproved inoperative.


7/10

Union Carbide'scharges?

The gas-affected people of Bhopal continue to succumb toinjuries sustained during the disaster, dying at the rate ofone each day. Treatment protocols are hampered by the

company's continuing refusal to share information it holdson the toxic effects of MIC.

Both Union Carbide and its new owner Dow Chemicalclaim the data is a "trade secret," frustrating the efforts ofdoctors to treat gas-affected victims. The site itself hasnever been cleaned up, and a new generation is beingpoisoned by the chemicals that Union Carbide left behind.

It wasnt until 1989 that Union Carbide, in a partialsettlement with the Indian government, agreed to pay outsome $470 million in compensation.

The victims werent consulted in the settlementdiscussions, and many felt cheated by their compensation-$300-$500 - or about five years worth of medicalexpenses.

Today, those who were awarded compensation are hardlybetter off than those who werent.

In 1991, the local government in Bhopal charged Warren

Anderson, Union Carbides CEO at the time of the disaster,with manslaughter. If tried in India and convicted, hefaced a maximum of ten years in prison.


8/10

However Mr. Anderson never stood trial before an Indian court; he instead, evaded aninternational arrest warrant and a summons to appear before a US court. For years Mr.Andersons whereabouts were unknown, and it wasnt until August of 2002 that Greenpeace found him, living a life of luxury in the Hamptons.

Neither the American nor the Indian government seem interested in disturbing him with anextradition, despite the recent scandals over corporate crime. This is unfortunate: Mr.

Andersons decisions didnt just wipe out retirement plans, they killed people. The Union Carbide Corporation itself was charged with culpable homicide, a criminal chargewhose penalty has no upper limit. These charges have never been resolved, as UnionCarbide, like its former CEO, has refused to appear before an Indian court.

Union Carbide also remains liable for the environmental devastation its operations havecaused. Environmental damages were never addressed in the 1989 settlement, and thecontamination that

Union Carbide left behind continues to spread. These liabilities became the property of theDow Corporation, following its 2001 purchase of Union Carbide.

The deal was completed much to the chagrin of a number of Dow stockholders, who filedsuit in a desperate attempt to stop it. Dow was quick to pay off an outstanding claimagainst Union Carbide soon after it acquired the company, setting aside $2.2 billion to payoff former Union Carbide asbestos workers in Texas. However, has consistently andstringently maintained that it isnt liable for the Bhopal accident.


9/10

Bhopal MedicalAppeal

The Bhopal Medical Appeal was launched in1994, when a man from Bhopal came toBritain to tell whoever would listen aboutthe calamitous condition of the stillsuffering victims of the Union Carbide gasdisaster.

Those who met him learned that after tenyears, the survivors had received nomeaningful medical help.

Survivors realised that they must helpthemselves, because nobody else would.

They wanted to open their own free clinic

for gas victims.

They were joined in the UK by a fewindividuals who put the mechanics of theAppeal together. They were in turn joined

in this effort by other like minded people.

PAN-UK is a member of theICJB, which seeks to obtainjustice for the survivors inBhopal, and many of whoseaims have medical significance

- for example, the provision ofproper medical relief, includingfor people born since thedisaster who suffer from gas-and water-poisoning, adequatecompensation for past medicalbills and loss of livelihood, theclean-up of the factory, whichcontinues to poison nearbyland and drinking watersupplies.

The InternationalCampaign for

Justice in Bhopal(ICJB)


10/10

Today Victims in Bhopal have been left in the lurch,

told to fend for themselves as corporateexecutives elude justice and big corporations

elude the blame. Dows unwillingness to fulfil its legal and

moral obligations in Bhopal represents onlythe latest chapter in this horrifyinghumanitarian disaster.

For twenty years, the victims of Bhopal havecontinued to demand justice.

Achievements of the new clinic (2002)

Have developed safe, effective and inexpensivetreatment methods for particular symptomsor symptom complexes.

At Sambhavna they provide free treatment tothe gas victims on the basis of theirsymptoms or symptom complexes. Thosecoming for medical care can chose to betreated through allopathy, Ayurveda and

Yoga.

Constant efforts are being made towardsdeveloping treatment protocols for specificsymptom complexes.

The Impact of an Mnc in India

Documents

Transcript of The Impact of an Mnc in India