Fwd: DOW "HELP" FOR BHOPAL A HOAX

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Dow Chemical Corporation <[email protected]>
> Date: December 3, 2004 9:18:25 AM PST
> To: "grifray-yahoo.com" <[email protected]>
> Subject: DOW "HELP" FOR BHOPAL A HOAX
>
> December 3, 2004
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>
> "DOW" STATEMENT A HOAX
> "Historic aid package for Bhopal victims" a lie
>
> Contact: Marina Ashanin, Corp. Media Relations, +41-1-728-2347
> Related information: http://dowethics.com/bhopal/
>
> Today on BBC World Television, a fake Dow spokesperson announced fake
> plans to take full responsibility for the very real Bhopal tragedy of
> December 3, 1984. (1) Dow Chemical emphatically denies this
> announcement. Although seemingly humanistic in nature, the fake plans
> were invented by irresponsible hucksters with no regard for the
> truth.
>
> As Dow has repeatedly noted, Dow cannot and will not take
> responsibility for the accident. ("What we cannot and will not do…
> is accept responsibility for the Bhopal accident." - CEO Michael
> Parker, 2002.) The Dow position has not changed, despite public
> pressure.
>
> Dow also notes the great injustice that these pranksters have caused
> by giving Bhopalis false hope for a better future assisted by Dow.
> The survivors of Bhopal have already suffered 20 years of false hope,
> neglect, and abdication of responsibility by all parties. Is that not
> enough?
>
> To be perfectly clear:
>
> * The Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) will NOT be liquidated. (The
> fake "Dow plan" called for the dissolution and sale of Dow's fully
> owned subsidiary, estimated at US$12 billion, to fund compensation
> and remediation in Bhopal.)
>
> * Dow will NOT commit ANY funds to compensate and treat 120,000
> Bhopal residents who require lifelong care. The Bhopal victims have
> ALREADY been compensated; many received about US$500 several years
> ago, which in India can cover a full year of medical care. (2)
>
> * Dow will NOT remediate (clean up) the Bhopal plant site. We do
> understand that UCC abandoned thousands of tons of toxic chemicals on
> the site, and that these still contaminate the groundwater which area
> residents drink. Dow estimates that the Indian government's recent
> proposal to commission a study to consider the possibility of proper
> remediation at some point in the future is fully sufficient.
>
> * Dow does NOT urge the US to extradite former Union Carbide CEO
> Warren Anderson to India, where he has been wanted for 20 years on
> multiple homicide charges. (3)
>
> * Dow will NOT release proprietary information on the leaked gases,
> nor the results of studies commissioned by UCC and never released.
>
> * Dow will NOT fund research on the safety of Dow endocrine
> disruptors (ECDs) considered to have long-term negative effects.
>
> * Dow DOES agree that "One can't assign a dollar value to doing
> what's morally right," as hoaxter Finisterra said. That is why Dow
> acknowledged and resolved many of Union Carbide's liabilities in the
> US immediately after acquiring the company in 2001. (4)
>
> Again, most importantly of all:
>
> * Dow shareholders will see NO losses, because Dow's policy towards
> Bhopal HAS NOT CHANGED. Much as we at Dow may care, as human beings,
> about the victims of the Bhopal catastrophe, we must reiterate that
> Dow's sole and unique responsibility is to its shareholders, and Dow
> CANNOT do anything that goes against its bottom line unless forced to
> by law.
>
> For more information please contact Marina Ashanin, Corporate Media
> Relations, +41-1-728-2347, or reply to this email.
>
>
> NOTES TO EDITORS:
>
> (1) On December 3, 1984, Union Carbide - now part of Dow -
> accidentally killed thousands of residents of Bhopal, India, when its
> pesticide plant leaked a vast cloud of lethal gas over the city.
> Since that date, at least 12,000 more people have died from
> complications, and 120,000 remain chronically ill. The Dow Chemical
> Corporation hereby expresses its condolences to the victims.
>
> (2) Union Carbide was originally forced to pay US$470 million in
> compensation to survivors, which amounts to about US$500 per victim.
> (Note: Dow hereby wishes to retract the 2002 statement of Dow PR Head
> Kathy Hunt as to US$500 being "plenty good for an Indian." The poor
> phrasing of this statement has often come back to haunt us.)
>
> (3) Arrested in India following the accident, Andersen posted
> US$2000 bail and successfully escaped India.
>
> (4) Dow settled Union Carbide's asbestos liabilities in the US, and
> paid US$10 million to one family poisoned by a Dow pesticide. This
> is a mark of Dow's corporate responsibility.
>
> # 30 #
>
>