Cops welcomed with smoke bombs and flares Dublin Pride 19:57 Jul 14 0 comments Gemma O'Doherty: The speech you never heard. I wonder why? 05:28 Jan 15 0 comments A Decade of Evidence Demonstrates The Dramatic Failure Of Globalisation 15:39 Aug 23 1 comments Thatcher's " blind eye" to paedophilia 15:27 Mar 12 0 comments Total Revolution. A new philosophy for the 21st century. 15:55 Nov 17 0 comments more >>Blog Feeds
Anti-EmpireRussia Has 17 Percent More Defense Jobs ... Tue Apr 30, 2024 11:56 | Marko Marjanović That Time Blackwater and US Army Shot Ea... Sun Apr 28, 2024 12:54 | Marko Marjanović Rheinmetall Plans to Make 700,000 Artill... Thu Apr 25, 2024 04:03 | Anti-Empire America’s Shell Production Is Leaping,... Wed Apr 24, 2024 05:29 | Anti-Empire Ukraine Keeps Snapping Up Chinese Drones Tue Apr 23, 2024 03:14 | Anti-Empire
Human Rights in IrelandA Blog About Human RightsUN human rights chief calls for priority action ahead of climate summit Sat Oct 30, 2021 17:18 | Human Rights 5 Year Anniversary Of Kem Ley?s Death Sun Jul 11, 2021 12:34 | Human Rights Poor Living Conditions for Migrants in Southern Italy Mon Jan 18, 2021 10:14 | Human Rights Right to Water Mon Aug 03, 2020 19:13 | Human Rights Human Rights Fri Mar 20, 2020 16:33 | Human Rights
Lockdown Skeptics
Cost of Driving Jumps 50% in Three Years as Net Zero War on Motorist Heats Up Thu May 02, 2024 17:00 | Will Jones
Google and the End of the Employee Activist Thu May 02, 2024 15:00 | C.J. Strachan
Colds, Flu and Covid Are Mainly Spread Through the Air, WHO Report Finds Thu May 02, 2024 13:00 | Will Jones
Climate Alarm Has Become a Dangerous Ideology, Says Cambridge Academic Thu May 02, 2024 11:14 | Sallust
Civil Servants Take Legal Action to Stop Rwanda Flights by Arguing International Law Ties Their Hand... Thu May 02, 2024 09:00 | Will Jones
Voltaire NetworkVoltaire, international editionParis 2024 and Berlin 1936 in the service of an impossible imperial dream, by Th... Tue Apr 30, 2024 07:07 | en Georgia and the financing of political organizations from abroad Sat Apr 27, 2024 05:37 | en Voltaire, International Newsletter N°84 Sat Apr 27, 2024 05:35 | en Israel's complex relations with Iran, by Thierry Meyssan Wed Apr 24, 2024 05:25 | en Iran's hypersonic missiles generate deterrence through terror, says Scott Ritter... Mon Apr 22, 2024 10:37 | en |
Search words: Bhopal DOW ADDRESSES Bhopal OUTRAGE, EXPLAINS POSITION
national |
miscellaneous |
news report
Tuesday December 03, 2002 14:08 by Anthony Lamanche - Dow Chemical press at dow-chemical dot com
Company responds to activist concerns with concrete action points In response to growing public outrage over its handling of the Bhopal disaster's legacy, Dow Chemical has issued a statement explaining why it is unable to more actively address the problem. "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 "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." On December 3, 1984, Union Carbide--now part of Dow--accidentally killed 5,000 residents of Bhopal, India, when its pesticide plant sprung a leak. It abandoned the plant without cleaning it up, and since then, an estimated 15,000 more people have died from complications, most resulting from chemicals released into the groundwater. Although legal investigations have consistently pinpointed Union Carbide as culprit, both Union Carbide and Dow have had to publicly deny these findings. After the accident, Union Carbide compensated victims' families between US$300 and US$500 per victim. "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--much worse, the public could then point to Dow as a precedent in other big cases. 'They took Shareholders reacted to the Dow statement with enthusiasm. "I'm happy that Dow is being clear about its aims," said Panaline Boneril, who owns 10,000 shares, "because Bhopal is a recurrent problem that's clogging our value chain and ultimately keeping the share price from expressing its full potential. Although a real solution is not immediately possible because of Dow's commitments to the larger industry issues, there is new hope in management's exceptional new clarity on the matter." "It's a slow process," said Questra. "We must learn bit by bit to meet this challenge head-on. For now, this means Dow Chemical is a chemical products and services company devoted to bringing its customers a wide range of chemicals. It furnishes solutions for the agriculture, electronics, manufacturing, and oil and gas industries, including well-known products like Styrofoam, DDT, and Agent Orange, as well as lesser-known brands like Inspire, Retain, Eliminator, Quash, and Woodstalk. For more on the Bhopal catastrophe, please visit Dow at http://www.dow-chemical.com/ Contact:press@dow-chemical.com |
View Comments Titles Only
save preference
Comments (7 of 7)
Jump To Comment: 7 6 5 4 3 2 1Dow seized the domain www.dow-chemical.com, but the site has reappeared at http://dow-chemical.va.com.au
As an employee of Dow Chemical, I find it unacceptable that a press release like this, clearly faked, appears on this website.
It must be taken down immediately.
We don't say things like this in public. Ever.
From their website:
Sustainable Development
We are part of an ever-evolving global society - one that values organizations such as Dow not only for our products and services, but also for the distinctive image we present to our world and its people. We don't want people to think "chemicals" when they hear "Dow" -- we want them to hear "Living. Improved Daily." We don't want them to think of a corporation striving to maximize profits, we want them to think of a good neighbor.
Wow and no mention of Bhopal
Who's a bright boy, then? Check out "sarcasm" in the dictionary and you might get the point. The purpose of this article is to show what Dow _would_ be saying if they told the truth. Fat chance, but someone had the good idea of making it up. Not bad, eh?
This may not be from DOW Chemical. A copy of the email header from the release contains a different sender address. Look:
X-Auth-No:
Return-Path: mikeb@echo.kirenet.com (*??who???*)
Received: from echo.kirenet.com not authenticated [208.27.69.10]
by smtp-send.myrealbox.com with NetMail SMTP Agent $Revision: 3.19 $ on
Novell NetWare;
Tue, 03 Dec 2002 02:31:16 -0700
Received: (from mikeb@localhost)
by echo.kirenet.com (8.9.3/69.69.69) id CAA26418;
Tue, 3 Dec 2002 02:43:04 -0500
Date: Tue, 3 Dec 2002 02:43:04 -0500
Message-Id:
To: "thomasleavitt-myrealbox.com"
From: Dow Chemical Corporation
Subject: DOW ADDRESSES BHOPAL OUTRAGE, EXPLAINS POSITION
Sender: dow41-proxypress@dow-chemical.com
This may not be from DOW Chemical. A copy of the email header from the release contains a different sender address. Look:
X-Auth-No:
Return-Path: (*??who???*)
Received: from echo.kirenet.com not authenticated [208.27.69.10]
by smtp-send.myrealbox.com with NetMail SMTP Agent $Revision: 3.19 $ on
Novell NetWare;
Tue, 03 Dec 2002 02:31:16 -0700
Received: (from mikeb@localhost)
by echo.kirenet.com (8.9.3/69.69.69) id CAA26418;
Tue, 3 Dec 2002 02:43:04 -0500
Date: Tue, 3 Dec 2002 02:43:04 -0500
Message-Id:
To: "thomasleavitt-myrealbox.com"
From: Dow Chemical Corporation
Subject: DOW ADDRESSES BHOPAL OUTRAGE, EXPLAINS POSITION
Sender: dow41-proxypress@dow-chemical.com
it affects their profits->
"because Bhopal is a recurrent problem that's
clogging our value chain and ultimately keeping the share price from
expressing its full potential."
said a shareholder with regard to the Bhopal 'problem', she ain't getting value for money for her shares, boo hoo. Perhaps if 20000 shareholders died of poisoning it might provoke some human feeling?