ferent future.
** This week 300 groups and individuals issued a new "Charter on
Industrial Hazards and Human Rights" --a document some are
calling a Magna Carta of corporate harms and human rights. The
charter tries to draw positive examples from the Bhopal
experience, gathering all the lessons into one human rights
document that emphasizes the need to address the impact of
industrial hazards on women, indigenous peoples, and minority
groups.[14]
** In Bhopal, a new medical clinic has opened its doors,
dedicated to serving the victims of Carbide's negligence and
managerial malfeasance. The Bhopal People's Health and
Documentation Clinic is real, and is serving the day-to-day needs
of gas victims and their families. You can help by sending a
donation to their U.S. fiscal agent, the Pesticide Action Network
in San Francisco. Make your check out to "Pesticide Action
Network/Bhopal" and mail it to PAN, Suite 810, 116 New Montgomery
Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. To discuss a donation,
telephone PAN at (415) 541-9253.
Carbide's successful evasion of liability for the Bhopal massacre
stands as a dark statement of things to come in a "free trade"
future. In this new world order, multinational corporations do
whatever feels good for them, and after they've had their way
with a community, they wash their hands and move on.
On the other hand, the continuing struggle in Bhopal to put
things right is a testament to the power of the human spirit,
which refuses to be crushed.
--Peter Montague
(National Writers Union, UAW Local 1981/AFL-CIO)
================================================================
[1] The basis for the estimate of 8,000 deaths and 300,000
injuries, 70,000 of them permanent, is meticulously documented by
the prize-winning journalist, Dan Kurzman, in his book, A KILLING
WIND: INSIDE UNION CARBIDE AND THE BHOPAL CATASTROPHE (New York:
McGraw-Hill, 1987), pgs. 130-133. TheBV CV DV EV FV death count most often
repeated by the NEW YORK TIMES is 2000, but other unofficial
estimates run as high as 20,000. The Indian government now
acknowledges 7072 deaths; see Wil Lepkowski, "Ten years Later;
Bhopal," CHEMICAL & ENGINEERING NEWS [C&EN], December 19, 1994,
pg. 12.
[2] R. Bertell and G. Tognoni, "International Medical Commission,
Bhopal: A model for the future," THE NATIONAL MEDICAL JOURNAL OF
INDIA Vol. 9, No. 2 (1996), pgs. 86-91.
[3] P. Cullinan, S.D. Acquilla, and V.R. Dhara, "Long term
Morbidity in survivors of the 1984 Bhopal gas leak," THE NATIONAL
MEDICAL JOURNAL OF INDIA Vol. 9, No. 1 (1996), pgs. 5-10.
[4] Wil Lepkowski, "Ten Years Later; Bhopal," CHEMICAL &
ENGINEERING NEWS [C&EN], December 19, 1994, pgs. 8-18.
[5] Rosalie Bertell, "Twelve years After Bhopal--An Editorial
reflection," INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON PUBLIC HEALTH Vols. 11
and 12 (1996), pgs. 2-4.
[6] Birger Heinzow, "Results of the International Medical
Commission on Bhopal (IMCB)," INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON
PUBLIC HEALTH Vols. 11 and 12 (1996), pgs. 4-8.
[7] M. Verweij, S.C. Mohapatra and R. Bhatia, "Health
Infrastructure for the Bhopal Gas Victims," INTERNATIONAL
PERSPECTIVES ON PUBLIC HEALTH Vols. 11 and 12 (1996), pgs. 8-13.
[8] Rajiv Bhatia and Gianni Tognoni, "Pharmaceutical Use in the
Victims of the Carbide Gas Exposure," INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES
ON PUBLIC HEALTH Vols. 11 and 12 (1996), pgs. 14-22.
[9] J. Jaskowski and others, "Compensation for the Bhopal
Disaster," INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON PUBLIC HEALTH Vols. 11
and 12 (1996), pgs. 23-28.
[10] Ingrid Eckerman, "The Health Situation of Women and Children
in Bhopal; Final Report for the International Medical Commission
on Bhopal 1994," INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON PUBLIC HEALTH
Vols. 11 and 12 (1996), pgs. 29-36.
[11] Thomas J. Callender, "Long-term Neurotoxicity at Bhopal,"
INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON PUBLIC HEALTH Vols. 11 and 12
(1996), pgs. 36-41.
[12] Ward Morehouse, "The Ethics of Industrial Disasters in a
Transnational World: The Elusive Quest for Justice and
Accountability in Bhopal," ALTERNATIVES Vol. 18 (1993), pg. 487.
See also David Denbo, Ward Morehouse, and Lucinda Wykle, ABUSE OF
POWER; SOCIAL PERFORMANCE OF MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS: THE CASE
OF UNION CARBIDE (New York: New Horizons Press, 1990).
[13] Charles Bowden, "While You Were Sleeping," HARPER'S MAGAZINE
December 1996, pg. 44.
[14] Paper copies of the Charter are available from the Council
on International and Public Affairs, Suite 3C, 777 United Nations
Plaza, New York, NY 10017; single copies and small quantities
are free. Telephone: (212) 972-9877. For a free electronic copy
via E-mail, send the word CHARTER in the body of a message (not
in the "subject" line) to info@rachel.clark.net.
Descriptor terms: union carbide; free trade; pesticides; bhopal;
india; methyl isocyanate; mic; industrial disasters; future;
charter on industrial hazards and human rights; human rights;
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