Framing the issues.
Next
month, London plays host to an Olympic Games that promises to ‘Inspire a
Generation’. At its heart will be the flagship East London stadium, encircled by
a fabric ‘wrap’ sponsored by Dow Chemical, sole owner since 2001 of Union
Carbide.
That is, sole owner of the company responsible for one of
the worst cases of corporate negligence in living memory: Bhopal. Tell
LOCOG chair Lord Coe to stop defending Dow Chemical
On the night of
2-3 December 1984, a cloud of toxic gas leaked from a Union Carbide pesticide
factory in Bhopal, India towards nearby shantytowns. Between 7,000 and 10,000
people were killed immediately and a further 15,000 people died as a result
of the disaster over the next 20 years.
Today, contamination at the site
continues to directly affect 100,000 people, denying their rights to health,
water 
and housing. Victims of the disaster are still fighting for justice from
Dow in both Indian and US courts, justice that involves the long overdue
clean-up of their environment.
That fight may have been made a lot harder
as a result of LOCOG Chair Sebastian Coe’s public statement that Dow were not
responsible for the events of 1984. In doing so, he effectively declared
victims’ claims to be unfounded. Send
an email: End LOCOG’s shameful defence of Dow Chemical
Not only does
this association with Dow damage the Bhopal victims’ quest for justice, it
taints the London Olympics itself. Yet it’s not too late for LOCOG to retract
its defence of Dow, apologise to victims – and help bring the day closer that
Dow finally accepts responsibility for the Bhopal disaster.
Tell
LOCOG chair Lord Coe to stop defending Dow Chemical
Thank you,
http://action.amnesty.org.uk/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1194&ea.campaign.id=15017&utm_source=aiuk&utm_medium=mass_email&utm_campaign=Dignity&utm_content=dow_email
Acceptable Risk: "Acceptable Risk™
Acceptable
Risk™ is a voluntary initiative of Dow to safely predict the precise
point at which profitability is threatened by danger to the public.
Using
our new Acceptable Risk Calculator™ ARC , we weigh profits against
costs in human life or health, thereby involving the public in the
decision-making process about whom to put at risk, and where to locate
risk globally. The ARC is available free for industry use; log on below
to test-run it for yourself.
Acceptable Risk™ and the
ARC were launched on April 28, 2005 at the International Payments 2005
conference, London, in solemn commemoration of the April 30 anniversary
of the withdrawal of troops from Vietnam. Dow owes a debt of gratitude
to the people of Vietnam for helping Dow define the limits of Acceptable
Risk™. Dow s contribution to the War effort was very profitable, and
recent appeals for damages by VietNAMEse people who received coatings of
special Dow herbicides were rejected by US courts two weeks ago,
proving the Dow adage: A skeleton in the closet is quite often golden.
Acceptable
Risk™ is practiced by Dow all over the world. While Acceptable Risk
goes above and beyond what is legally required for doing business in
most countries, we hold ourselves accountable by making Acceptable Risk a
condition of membership in the most modern way of d"
Acceptable Risk™ and the ARC were launched on April 28, 2005 at the International Payments 2005 conference, London,
in solemn commemoration of the April 30 anniversary of the
withdrawal of troops from Vietnam. Dow owes a debt of
gratitude to the people of Vietnam for helping Dow define
the limits of Acceptable Risk™. Dow's contribution to the
War effort was very profitable, and recent appeals for damages
by Vietnamese people who received coatings of special Dow herbicides
were rejected by US courts two weeks ago, proving the Dow
adage: "A skeleton in the closet is quite often golden."
Acceptable Risk™ is practiced by Dow all over the world.
While Acceptable Risk goes above and beyond what is
legally required for doing business in most countries, we
hold ourselves accountable by making Acceptable Risk a
"condition of membership" in the most modern way of doing
business.
To: press@dow-chemical.com
Subject: Re: DOW ADDRESSES BHOPAL OUTRAGE, EXPLAINS POSITION
Wow Dow, Did you
send me the above-referenced email, and if so why? The contents
are an indictment of your company, and in no way absolve Dow nor
justify Dow's position. The argument made is that the financial
interests of corporations in general, and yours in particular take
precedence over the suffering for which they are responsible. Instead
of taking responsibity you offer this rationalization and call it
"clarity"! May I suggest, if this email is genuine, that you save
even more money and fire your PR department.
To: press@dow-chemical.com
Subject: Re: DOW ADDRESSES BHOPAL OUTRAGE, EXPLAINS POSITION
I must respond to your very strange and unsettling message!
> "Company responds to activist concerns with concrete action
points"
There are no concrete action points here -- only paper-thin alibis.
>Dow Chemical (http://www.dow-chemical.com) has
> issued a statement explaining why it is unable to more actively
> address the problem.
You have NOT explained why you are unwilling to extend further
compensation to the thousands upon thousands of people
whose lives YOU HAVE DESTROYED through negligence. It's called
impunity.
When you absorbed Union Carbide, you took on their liabilities -- and
this is a fact you are still evading.
> "We are being portrayed as a heartless giant which doesn't care
about
> the 20,000 lives lost due to Bhopal over the years," said Dow
> President and CEO Michael D. Parker. "But this just isn't true.
Many
> individuals within Dow feel tremendous sorrow
"Sorrow" doesn't cut it. It's a cavalier way of stiffing the victims
of
Union Carbide's negligence. The terrible tragedies of Bhopal were
caused by Union
Carbide's willingness to risk a disaster to save a few pennies of
operational
cost...
> "Unfortunately, we have responsibilities to our shareholders and
our
> industry colleagues that make action on Bhopal impossible. And
being
> clear about this has been a very big step."
This is the most absurd statement I've ever read. You are blaming
your
own Stockholders and OTHER COS. for your irresponsible, callous,
inhumane
greed! Just when I thought corporate America couldn't sink any lower,
you found a
way!!!!!
> Although legal investigations have consistently pinpointed Union
> Carbide as culprit, both Union Carbide and Dow have had to
publicly
> deny these findings.
Had to? What in the world are you talking about. You just stated
Union
Carbide was the source of the accident, and then you say you "had" to
deny the findings? You are making no sense at all.
> "We understand the anger and hurt," said Dow Spokesperson Bob
Questra.
> "But Dow does not and cannot acknowledge responsibility. If we
did,
> not only would we be required to expend many billions of dollars
on
> cleanup and compensation"
Obviously, a greater tragedy as far as you are concerned than the
loss
of life. Your attitude is that of a MASS MURDERER.
> "much worse, the public could then point to
> Dow as a precedent in other big cases. 'They took responsibility;
why
> can't you?' Amoco, BP, Shell, and Exxon all have ongoing problems
that
> would just get much worse.
That's not worse my friend, it's better. It's called corporate
responsibility -- a concept that apparently you are too
depraved to understand.... Aren't you kind? Looking out for other
company's welfare.
> "We are unable to set this precedent for
> ourselves and the industry, much as we would like to see the issue
> resolved in a humane and satisfying way."
God, what humanists you are! Maybe you should share the Nobel
prize
with Netanyahu and Kissinger!
To: press@dow-chemical.com
Subject: Re: DOW ADDRESSES BHOPAL OUTRAGE, EXPLAINS POSITION
You and most corporations are poor excuses for human beings. Do you
really consider $300 to 500. compensation for a person's life??? Why
don't you
admit you're at fault and do the right thing. I once owned Dow shares
and I'm really glad I sold them years ago. Your loyalty to the other
corporations is akin to the Mafia's loyality to its "family".
To: press@dow-chemical.com
Subject: Re: DOW ADDRESSES BHOPAL OUTRAGE, EXPLAINS POSITION
Referring to Dow Chemical as having a constructive part in the birth
of
the environmental movement is like crediting Hitler and Eichman's
racial
cleansing policies against the jews as having led to the origins of
international ethical and moral judgements at Nuremberg. Or crediting
cancer with the origins of chemotherapy. Your letter can only lead a
normal person to question the reliability of the people running your
corporation.
Is it legal for a deranged and certifiably insane group of people to
run a company selling stock to the public? By the way, a minor
point, but
when at the close of your letter, you refer to Dow's products as
"solutions"
for industry, you proudly include Agent Orange and DDT but forgot
Napalm.
As i recall that one added a significant amount of profit to those
shareholders about whom you are so concerned.
To: press@dow-chemical.com
Subject: Re: DOW ADDRESSES BHOPAL OUTRAGE, EXPLAINS POSITION
Let me paraphrase your message: "For me (the murderer) to accept
responsibility for my crime would be impossible, as it would mean
I'd have to go to jail...I'd like to effectively admit guilt without
paying the consequences."
This is total bullshit. In what kind of world can you actually try
to
pass off such a weak position as 'honest and clear'?
$300-$500 per person??!!! Pay up some real money you cheap bastards!
To: press@dow-chemical.com
Subject: Re: DOW ADDRESSES BHOPAL OUTRAGE, EXPLAINS POSITION
Feeling responsibility and sorrow is just not the same as taking
responsibiltiy for the actions of the company. May I suggest a hefty
pay cut for
executives and members of the board to help pay for the disaster.
Perhaps Michael
Parker could lead the way.
To: press@dow-chemical.com
Subject: the daily improvement of living
Brilliant! I love it. My life has improved simply by
pointing and clicking on your website. Give me more!
To: press@dow-chemical.com
Subject: Re: DOW ADDRESSES BHOPAL OUTRAGE, EXPLAINS POSITION [!!!]
Gentlemen,
I find the response by the Dow Chemical Corporation not in the least
satisfactory. There must be, and we will continue to insist upon,
more
satisfactory ways for the large corporations -- including their
directors and managers -- to be held accountable for the consequences
of their
actions and installations. All of them. Otherwise 'bancruptcies' and
other ploys
will continue to be used as 'escape hatches' for corporate
responsibility.
The use of the word "unfortunately" here and in most cases is
deviously
and insidiously misleading. What we are dealing with has nothing
whatever
to do with "fortune" or misfortune", good "luck" or bad "luck". What
we are
dealing with are human - "man-made" - provisions, constructions and
situations
which therefore need to be dealt with, and dealt to, by human action:
socially, financially, and above all *politically*.
It is evidently and completely unfair, unjust, and reprehensible that
*some* (few) people can reap huge rewards and high incomes, while
(many)
others are killed, injured, starved, and continue to live in
miserable degraded
conditions.
That 'situation' is not simply "unfortunate" --- it must and will be
changed, by people, sooner or later, one way or another. Whoever does
not see this
is blind.
To: press@dow-chemical.com
Subject: Re: DOW ADDRESSES BHOPAL OUTRAGE, EXPLAINS POSITION
Dear Mr. Questra, Dow Spokesperson,
As a Dow retiree, and a Social Activist, a lot of correspondence has
come across my desk that has
made me either shake my head in disbelief or feel a huge sense of
outrage, and in some cases both.
So when I say that this bit of corporate spin is the most
irresponsible, reprehensible, and
nauseating piece of whitewashed corporate-speak that I have ever
seen, I speak from truth. And it
makes me ashamed of my long association with the company....
To: press@dow-chemical.com
Subject: Re: DOW ADDRESSES BHOPAL OUTRAGE, EXPLAINS POSITION
Dear Dow Press Office:
This is in response to Dow Chemical's statement explaining why it is
unable to more actively address the problem of the tragedy in Bhopal.
When corporations were given personhood in the early nineteenth
century
by the U.S. Supreme Court, it was not envisioned that such personhood
gave only the benefits but none of the responsibilities of
personhood.
Bhopal was ruined by the destruction of a chemical plant, and
responsibility
lies with the corporation who was benefitting from it OR its
successors.
To: press@dow-chemical.com
Subject: Rachel Carson's Silent Spring
For Dow to take "credit" for poisoning the planet with DDT, and
thereby
to take credit for Rachel Carson's alerting
the world to your company's poison represents a new low in corporate
ethics.
Combining this with the thoroughly amoral statements of your CEO on
why
Dow cannot acknowledge responsibility for Union Carbide's legacy at
Bhopalmakes Dow Chemical a blight on the hope
that corporations can act ethically and morally even if it has an
adverse effect on profits.
If you compare Dow's behavior with that of Johnson & Johnson when
some
of it's McNeil Division's Tylenol was poisoned by a criminal, you
would find that corporations can remain profitable,
even highly profitable, in the long run by sacrificing short term
profit for moral and ethical reasons.
Incidentally, Rachel Carson died in 1964 after authoring Silent
Spring
in 1962, not 1969 as your web site states.
Would you be kind enough to remove this disgusting paragraph from the
home page of your web site?
Thanks for allowing me this opportunity to communicate with you.
To: press@dow-chemical.com
Subject: Re: DOW ADDRESSES BHOPAL OUTRAGE, EXPLAINS POSITION
Is this supposed to make me feel BETTER???
Or is this some mentally-deranged person's idea of a joke???
You people are HORRIBLE!!!
and your position is illogical, to boot.
You are saying that you (SOME of you) care, but it's just not
convenient to do anything about it.
These are human LIVES we are talking about. Impoverished people, sick
people (and their sickness caused BY YOUR CHEMICALS)
You are saying that MONEY is more important than PEOPLE.
You are saying that shareholders are more important than the innocent
people you killed, maimed and sickened.
Right is right. If you made the mess, it IS your job to clean it up.
Most of us learn this in kindergarten. It's part of the GOlden Rule.
Or do you have different rules you play by (apparently!), and if so,
who gave you the right to decide when you would and
would not take responsibility for what YOU (and no one else)
DID?!?!?!
I am shocked, appalled, horrified, sickened and disgusted with you.
I guess "corporate responsibility" is the biggest oxymoron of them
all.
Rest assured, you will never receive a dime from me as a customer. I
will make sure I boycott any company that has any
connection to yours.
Some time ago I had a debate with a friend about whether or not
"evil"
exists.
I took the side that it doesn't. People are just misguided, I said.
Well, I take it back.
You are EVIL INCARNATE!!!!!!
To: press@dow-chemical.com
Subject: Bhophal disaster
To Michael Parker, President:
The statement issued recently regarding Dow's lack of willingness to
take responsibility for what happened at Bhopal declares that your
stockholders and the business you are in makes this impossible.
Profiting richly from the cover-up of your culpability in the
miserable
and painful deaths of some 20,000 poor and humble people is clearly,
however, not beyond the capacity of Dow and its subsidiary Union
Carbide. Could there be any clearer demonstration of the venality
and
cruelty of Capitalism? I think not.
The world, however, is full of people who unlike you, have not lost
their moral compass. There is a growing tide of righteous anger
building toward people like you, your board of directors and your
stockholders. A day of reckoning will one day come. Meanwhile, if
you
have any gods I suggest you pray for your immortal soul. This may
comfort you. But if you, like me, are guided only by my own sense of
right and wrong, may you never have a good night's sleep or moment of
personal peace or happiness until you make things right with the
people
of Bhopal.
Have you no sense of decency?
To: press@dow-chemical.com
Subject: Re: DOW ADDRESSES BHOPAL OUTRAGE, EXPLAINS POSITION
I guess that the almighty dollar is more important than human lives.
Yes, Dow is a heartless giant that does not care about people.
Shareholder value >
moral responsibility. Shame on you......
.........................keep fighting the good fight, with your minds as weapons!!...............................
.............................kosmicdebris...........................
