As Union Carbide CEO disappears
Bhopal survivors fight for compensation
By Anya
Mukarji-Connolly
The former chief executive officer of Union Carbide is
missing, as of March 5. Although he resides in an exclusive
neighborhood in Vero Beach, Fla., Warren Anderson can't be
found.
Anderson is officially an "absconder from justice." He is
wanted in India for a trial connected with the Bhopal
disaster 15 years ago. Anderson's company was responsible for
the worst industrial disaster in world history, and so far
the injured survivors and the families of the thousands
killed have received just a pittance from the company.
Dow and Union Carbide merge
Union Carbide is presently in the process of merging with
Dow Chemical to create a giant company with assets of over
$30 billion and annual revenue of over $24 billion. At the
press conference announcing the merger, these two firms said
they share "a common culture." No doubt. Dow was the
manufacturer of Agent Orange and napalm in the Vietnam
War.
The merged company will operate in 168 countries.
The merger will save Union Carbide $500 million a
year--more than the settlement received by all the Bhopal
survivors. Since that money came out of UC's insurance, the
company hasn't had to spend one cent.
That's why the survivors of Bhopal are continuing to sue
for adequate compensation from UC.
An initial claim by the Indian government against UC for
$3 billion in compensation was finally settled at $470
million. That money, paid to the Indian government on behalf
of the victims, worked out to approximately $600 in the case
of injury and less than $3,000 in the case of death. The
settlement cost each UC shareholder less than 50 cents.
'Reckless and depraved
indifference'
This past November the survivors and victims brought suit
in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New
York against Union Carbide and its former CEO, Warren
Anderson. The lawsuit charges both UC and Anderson with
violating international law and fundamental human rights of
the victims and survivors of the Bhopal disaster.
The suit charges the company with "reckless and depraved
indifference to human life in the design, operation and
maintenance of the Union Carbide of India Ltd. facility."
On the night of Dec. 2-3, 1984, the largest and most
destructive industrial "accident" in history occurred in
Bhopal, the capital of the state of Madhya Pradesh in
India.
Toxic gases leaked from the U.S.-owned Union Carbide
plant, killing about 15,000 people and injuring up to half a
million.
Union Carbide's business in India dates back to 1924, when
it established an assembly plant for batteries in Calcutta.
By 1983, Union Carbide had 14 plants throughout India.
Union Carbide carried out its business in India through
its subsidiary, Union Carbide India, Ltd., of which it had
the controlling interest of 50.9 percent of the stock. The
other 49.1 percent was owned by Indian investors.
In 1969, Union Carbide set up a plant in Bhopal to produce
a range of pesticides and herbicides. One of the gases used
in this process, and the principal gas involved in the Bhopal
tragedy, is methyl isocyanate (MIC), a form of cyanide.
Union Carbide knew of the seriousness of MIC as far back
as 1963, when it conducted research at the Mellon Institute
at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. It concluded
then that MIC "appears to be the most toxic member of the
isocyanate family" and "is highly toxic by both the peroral
and skin penetration routes and presents a definite hazard to
life by inhalation."
A disaster waiting to happen
Knowing the seriousness of this chemical gas, Union
Carbide went ahead with plans to build the MIC facility in
Bhopal next to an existing neighborhood and railway station.
Its plan had originally been rejected by the Bhopal
Development Plan, which said the facility should have been
built in the northeast of the city, not downwind of the
heavily populated areas.
On the night of the tragedy, a worker at the Bhopal plant
sounded a toxic alarm warning that there had been a gas
leak.
In its original design, the Bhopal plant was to have two
alarms: one to warn the community of any emergency and
another to warn those working in the plant. Both alarms were
designed to work simultaneously.
However, Union Carbide, after a number of "minor" leaks at
the plant, disconnected the community siren from the plant's
siren. On the night of Dec. 2-3, the community surrounding
the Union Carbide plant woke not to the sound of the
emergency sirens but because they were gasping for breath,
their eyes and throats stinging.
Thousands began fleeing, unable to see, heading southward.
No matter where they ran, no one could escape the gas, which
extended over 40 square kilometers.
The police were not informed of the gas leak for about
half an hour. When they contacted Union Carbide, they were
told there had been no leak. Not until an hour and a half
after it had begun did Union Carbide sound the community
siren and admit to the police that there indeed had been a
leak.
Prompt warnings may have saved many lives. But by the time
the community was warned, it was too late and most of the
people were running southward, with the gas.
When it could no longer hide the devastating "accident,"
Union Carbide's response was to minimize its seriousness and
imply that others were at fault.
This transnational giant tried to blame its Indian
subsidiary. It's a typical capitalist response: protect their
assets at whatever cost. Billions of dollars in punitive
damages are at stake in the Bhopal case.
Union Carbide concealed information as to the number of
deaths, the nature of the gas and the rehabilitation and
relief efforts. It even claimed in its report of the
"accident" that the leak had been the result of "sabotage,"
but never produced any proof.
Union Carbide has a history of "accidents" around the
world as well as in the U.S. A UC factory in Indonesia had a
high rate of mercury poisoning among workers. In Puerto Rico
a community surrounding a factory complained of persisting
air pollution.
In the U.S., in the early 1930s, 476 Carbide workers died
and 1,500 were injured from silicosis during the construction
of a tunnel in West Virginia.
Not one of these corporate executives has faced criminal
charges. And now Warren Anderson is a fugitive from justice
in the deadliest industrial accident of all time. CEOs are
supposedly paid their enormous salaries because they take
enormous responsibility. But Anderson has dodged
responsibility from the beginning of this disaster.
When the police want to go after someone, they know how.
SWAT teams, helicopters, undercover investigators--they can
be found every day in poor neighborhoods. But not in Vero
Beach, where it seems the biggest criminals live.
Since the environmental movement won greater regulation of
polluting industries in the United States, many of these
firms have moved outside the country. The capitalist
imperative drives them to look for the cheapest way to do
business, at any cost--especially if that cost doesn't come
out of their own pockets.
Thousands of youth, primarily Black and Latino, go to
prison in the U.S. every day, simply for being poor. But the
corporate executives responsible for this catastrophe have
never spent one day in jail. Even the meager compensation UC
paid was the result of years of struggle by the survivors.
The company won't even make a public apology for the
disaster.
Today Bhopal is a city made even poorer by the Union
Carbide tragedy. Much of the work available is manual labor,
and survivors of the tragedy suffer many injuries that make
work difficult. Secondary infections of the lungs and
respiratory tract, blurry vision, dizziness, difficulty in
breathing and pain are common. Ten to 15 people die every
month from exposure-related illnesses.
All the lip service paid by the U.S. government to the
environment and human rights is worthless as long as Warren
Anderson and his cronies are allowed to flout the law.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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