Bhopal--Fifteen Years Later
December 2, 1999
Bhopal Survivors Sue Union Carbide
Fifteen years after thousands of people were killed in a poison gas leak at
a Union Carbide pesticide factory in Bhopal, India, lawyers have filed a
class action lawsuit in New York charging the corporation with violating the
fundamental human rights of the victims and survivors of the disaster. The
toxic gas killed at least 16,000 according to local estimates; tens of
thousands continue to suffer. The suit has been filed under the Alien Tort
Claims Act that provides for civil remedies for criminal violation of
international law by U.S.-based corporations.
The lawsuit alleges that Union Carbide "demonstrated a reckless and depraved
indifference to human life in the design, operation and maintenance" of the
Union Carbide facility in Bhopal. The complaint also charges "that the
defendants are liable for fraud and civil contempt for their total failure
to comply with the lawful orders of the courts of both the United States and
India." The plaintiffs in the case include individual survivors as well as
the victims' organizations in Bhopal that have been representing survivors
and next-of-kin of victims for the past 15 years.
According to news reports, Union Carbide stated that it had not reviewed the
suit but that "all personal injury and related claims ... were settled in
1989." At that time, the company paid US$470 million as part of an
out-of-court settlement that granted company officials immunity from
prosecution. India's supreme court later struck down the immunity clause,
but let the settlement stand. The claimants who have received payments have
been paid only US$600 for injuries or less than US$3,000 in case of death.
Many others have received no compensation.
December 2, 1999, marks the fifteenth anniversary of the Bhopal gas
disaster. Late that night in 1984, an explosion at the Union Carbide plant
released a deadly cocktail of poison gas made up of methyl isocyanante,
hydrogen cyanide, monomethyl amine, carbon monoxide and up to 20 other
chemicals. The incident occurred during routine maintenance operations at
the factory when a large quantity of water entered one of the storage tanks
through leaking valves and corroded pipes, triggering a runaway reaction.
The wind carried the clouds of gas out over the surrounding community,
exposing more than 500,000 people to the poisons.
The Bhopal Group for Information and Action (BGIA) and other groups
representing the victims say that over 120,000 survivors are still in need
of medical attention. Ten to 15 people die each month due to injuries and
illness caused by the disaster. Representatives of the groups charge that
Union Carbide continues to withhold information on the composition of the
leaked gases and their effects on humans. Although such information is
needed for proper diagnosis and care, Union Carbide maintains that these
facts are trade secrets.
Sources: Indian Express News Service, November 16, 1999; Goodkind, Labaton,
Rudoff & Sucharow press release, November 15, 1999; Environment News
Service, November 16, 1999.
Contact: Friends of Bhopal, 44, Sant Kanwar Ram nagar, Berassia Road, Bhopal
462001, India; email shai@vsnl.com.
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No More Bhopals!
The Environmental Health Fund, Earth Rights International, the Pesticide
Action Network North America and other environmental and human rights
organizations, are releasing a report charging the chemical industry with
numerous human rights atrocities in connection with 20th Century
environmental disasters. "Beyond the Chemical Century: Restoring Human
Rights and Preserving the Fabric of Life in the New Millennium" will be
released in 15 countries on the fifteenth anniversary of Bhopal. It shows
how the largest chemical corporations have not only degraded the world's
ecosystems, but also violated basic human rights: the right to life, health
and a livable environment.
"The Bhopal disaster is just one example of a much larger pattern of ongoing
human rights abuses committed by the chemical industry throughout this
century," said attorney Sanford Lewis, the report's primary author. The
chemical industry, through cost-cutting, concealment and delay, have damaged
millions of lives in the 20th Century. Examples in the report include:
** Union Carbide turned off critical safety mechanisms in the Bhopal plant
to save money. Over 16,000 people have died as a result.
** Japan's Chisso Corporation knew for a decade that its mercury-containing
waste discharge caused Minamata Disease, which attacks the human nervous
system. At least 3,000 died, and over 10,000 survivors continue to live with
deteriorated nervous systems. Chisso denied responsibility for victim's
suffering.
Full text of the report can be accessed at http://www.essential.org/cchw.
Source: Environmental Health press release, November 30, 1999.
Contact: Sanford Lewis, Strategic Counsel on Corporate Accountability, P.O.
Box 79225, Waverly, MA 02479; phone (617) 489-3686; fax (781) 891-6889;
email gnproject@earthlink.net
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