[Biofuel] Bhopal marchers arrested in New Delhi
See: http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/msg58518.html [Biofuel] More about Bhopal --- Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2008 From: Pesticide Action Network North America http://www.panna.org/resources/panups/panup_20080403 Bhopal marchers in Delhi April 3, 2008 Marchers arrested in New Delhi On March 28, two years after their last padayatra (pilgrimage by foot) from Bhopal to Delhi, 50 people, including survivors of the 1984 gas tragedy, their children, and their supporters, arrived in the Indian capital after a 38-day, 500-mile trek. We were forced to undertake this grueling walk because [in 2006] the Prime Minister failed to keep his word. This time, we are not going back until we get a public declaration from him that he will deliver on his promise, said marcher Hazra Bee, a Bhopal survivor. The Prime Minister's Office has rejected a request for an appointment but international support for the survivors is pouring in. More than 1300 faxes and many more postcards and letters from 18 countries have demanded that the Prime Minister meet with the marchers. On March 29, 30 Bhopalis and supporters were arrested after staging a die-in at India Gate, the Indian War Memorial. A flood of calls protesting the arrests led officials to release the demonstrators after an hour. One of participant reported that, upon their release, the marchers sang and celebrated since the action led to much awareness about Bhopalis arriving in Delhi and also the headache it gave to police was considerable! For complete coverage of the march (with photos), go to http://www.bhopal.net/march/padyatra2008_blog.htmlBhopal.net. To send a free fax to the Prime Minister, go to PANNA's http://action.panna.org/t/5185/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=950Action page. ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (70,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
Re: [biofuel] Bhopal
x-charset ISO-8859-1Hey, esbuck, I didn't write that either! Oh well, never mind, in fact I'd wanted to do a piece on Bhopal for Journey to Forever's FYI section, but I didn't get that far, and we've stopped updating that section now, too much else on our plates. There's some good stuff there though: http://journeytoforever.org/index.html#FYI In a message dated 2/23/2004 7:30:44 AM Central Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: such as Union Carbide's metamorphosis into Dow Chemicals after its corporate terrorism in Bhopal (1984). As I understood it, there was terrorism, but not by Union Carbide. Someone sabotaged the plant. Can you clue us in on what really happened? Please? I'd really like to know what happened and how and who was at fault. Damn... Sorry - same problem, a bulging file of info, 5.6Mb of it, 129 documents, have to pare it down. Yeah, well, okay... Bhopal was and still is today an appalling atrocity, still ongoing after 20 years, a major crime against humanity and something we all should know about. And be outraged about. So pardon my mumblings, I'm glad that you ask. You'll have to spend some time doing some research, but all the information is ready to hand, you just have to read it. The bald, bare facts are quite bad enough, but the full picture in all its sickening detail is far worse, and it's important to get the full picture. I hope your stomach is strong. It's not at all what you think - the sabotage story is just a part of the considerable amount of disinfo and evasion generated by UC/Dow, and even were it true, what the saboteur is alleged to have done should not have had those results, it should have been 100% impossible. Instead, it was just waiting to happen, and the company knew it. - Though the design of the methyl isocyanate (MIC) unit at Bhopal was based on Union Carbide's West Virginia plant, grossly lower standards were employed in the selection of construction material, monitoring devices and safety systems. - Union Carbide wanted to save money. Accidental leaks from all the Bhopal units were frequent, and operators and workers were regularly exposed to different substances. The factory was running at a loss. In November 1984 the most important safety systems were either closed down or not functioning. - Between 1980 and 1984 the work crew of the MIC unit was halved from 12 to six workers, the maintenance crew from six to two workers. On December 26, 1981 a plant operator was killed by a phosgene gas leak. Another phosgene leak in January 1982 severely injured 28 workers and in October the same year MIC escaped from a broken valve and four workers were exposed to the chemical. The senior officials of the corporation, privy to a business confidential safety audit in May 1982, were well aware of 61 hazards, 30 of them major and 11 in the dangerous phosgene/MIC units. Remedial measures were then taken at Union Carbide's identical MIC plant in West Virginia but not in Bhopal. In Bhopal, prior to the disaster, environmental safety concerns by private citizens were responded to by legal threats from the company and repressive managerial measures were employed against workers who raised occupational health concerns. - Secret Union Carbide documents obtained by discovery during a class action suit brought by survivors against the company in New York, reveal that the technology used at the fatal Bhopal factory - including the crucial units manufacturing carbon monoxide and methyl isocyanate (MIC) - was unproven, and that the company knew it would pose unknown risks. The corporation knew the danger, but regarded it as an acceptable business risk. - Senior Carbide officials, including ex-CEO Warren Anderson, not only knew about design defects and potential safety issues with the Bhopal factory, they actually authorised them. - On the night of the disaster, water (that was being used for washing the lines) entered the tank containing MIC through leaking valves. The refrigeration unit, which should have kept the MIC close to zero degrees centigrade, had been shut off by the company officials to save on electricity bills. The entrance of water in the tank, full of MIC at ambient temperature triggered off an exothermic runaway reaction an consequently the release of 27 tons of the lethal gas mixture. The safety systems, which in any case were not designed for such a runaway situation, were non-functioning and under repair. Lest the neighborhood community be unduly alarmed, the siren in the factory had been switched off. Poison clouds from the Union Carbide factory enveloped an arc of over 20 square kilometers before the residents could run away from its deadly hold. - People woke up coughing, gasping for breath, their eyes burning. Many fell dead as they ran. Others succumbed at the hospitals where doctors were overwhelmed by the numbers and lacked information on the nature of the poisoning. By the third
Re: [biofuel] Bhopal
In a message dated 2/23/04 1:24:09 PM Pacific Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: In a message dated 2/23/2004 7:30:44 AM Central Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: such as Union Carbide's metamorphosis into Dow Chemicals after its corporate terrorism in Bhopal (1984). As I understood it, there was terrorism, but not by Union Carbide. Someone sabotaged the plant. Can you clue us in on what really happened? Please? I'd really like to know what happened and how and who was at fault. While we're at the subject of corporate crimes, consider the City of New York, which prohibited the use of asbestos insulation in the World Trade Center when they had only insulated the structure, against fire, up to the 44 th floor. At that time, long before 9-11, the architect said, If there's ever a fire above the 44th floor, that building is coming down. Whose fault was it that the buildings did not withstand an unusual fire above the 44th floor? Search the archives of Chemical Week Magazine for information on Phopal. It is comprehensive although there will be those who will automatically conclude that the reporting is biased because UC's defense is well stated. Bear in mind, as well, that UC's alledged liability was predicated on two things, both tlatently stated by the Indian government: First, UC was a deep pockets and second, they engaged in a dangerous activity so liability was theirs regardless of how the tragedy occurred. As far as the WTC, it is not obvious that asbestos or any other means of structural protection would have been sufficient to protect the buildings against thousands of gallons of jet fuel burning virtually all at once. I have a hard time considering this to be a corporate crime. -- Jay [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Sponsor -~-- Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US Canada. http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511 http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/FGYolB/TM -~- Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
Re: [biofuel] Bhopal
In a message dated 2/23/2004 7:30:44 AM Central Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: such as Union Carbide's metamorphosis into Dow Chemicals after its corporate terrorism in Bhopal (1984). As I understood it, there was terrorism, but not by Union Carbide. Someone sabotaged the plant. Can you clue us in on what really happened? Please? I'd really like to know what happened and how and who was at fault. While we're at the subject of corporate crimes, consider the City of New York, which prohibited the use of asbestos insulation in the World Trade Center when they had only insulated the structure, against fire, up to the 44 th floor. At that time, long before 9-11, the architect said, If there's ever a fire above the 44th floor, that building is coming down. Whose fault was it that the buildings did not withstand an unusual fire above the 44th floor? [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
