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"DOW" STATEMENT A HOAX: "Historic aid package for Bhopal victims" a lieAnonyme, Vendredi, Décembre 3, 2004 - 20:26 December 3, 2004 "DOW" STATEMENT A HOAX Today on BBC World Television, a fake Dow spokesperson announced fake plans to take full responsibility for the very real Bhopal tragedy of December 3, 1984. (1) Dow Chemical emphatically denies this announcement. Although seemingly humanistic in nature, the fake plans were invented by irresponsible hucksters with no regard for the truth. December 3, 2004 "DOW" STATEMENT A HOAX Contact: Marina Ashanin, Corp. Media Relations, +41-1-728-2347 Today on BBC World Television, a fake Dow spokesperson announced fake plans to take full responsibility for the very real Bhopal tragedy of December 3, 1984. (1) Dow Chemical emphatically denies this announcement. Although seemingly humanistic in nature, the fake plans were invented by irresponsible hucksters with no regard for the truth. As Dow has repeatedly noted, Dow cannot and will not take Dow also notes the great injustice that these pranksters have caused by giving Bhopalis false hope for a better future assisted by Dow. The survivors of Bhopal have already suffered 20 years of false hope, neglect, and abdication of responsibility by all parties. Is that not enough? To be perfectly clear: * The Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) will NOT be liquidated. (The fake "Dow plan" called for the dissolution and sale of Dow's fully owned subsidiary, estimated at US$12 billion, to fund compensation and remediation in Bhopal.) * Dow will NOT commit ANY funds to compensate and treat 120,000 Bhopal residents who require lifelong care. The Bhopal victims have ALREADY been compensated; many received about US$500 several years ago, which in India can cover a full year of medical care. (2) * Dow will NOT remediate (clean up) the Bhopal plant site. We do understand that UCC abandoned thousands of tons of toxic chemicals on the site, and that these still contaminate the groundwater which area residents drink. Dow estimates that the Indian government's recent proposal to commission a study to consider the possibility of proper * Dow does NOT urge the US to extradite former Union Carbide CEO warren Anderson to India, where he has been wanted for 20 years on multiple homicide charges. (3) * Dow will NOT release proprietary information on the leaked gases, nor the results of studies commissioned by UCC and never released. * Dow will NOT fund research on the safety of Dow endocrine * Dow DOES agree that "One can't assign a dollar value to doing what's morally right," as hoater Finisterra said. That is why Dow acknowledged and resolved many of Union Carbide's liabilities in the US immediately after acquiring the company in 2001. (4) Again, most importantly of all: * Dow shareholders will see NO losses, because Dow's policy towards Bhopal HAS NOT CHANGED. Much as we at Dow may care, as human beings, about the victims of the Bhopal catastrophe, we must reiterate that Dow's sole and unique responsibility is to its shareholders, and Dow CANNOT do anything that goes against its bottom line unless forced to For more information please contact Marina Ashanin, Corporate Media NOTES TO EDITORS: (1) On December 3, 1984, Union Carbide - now part of Dow - (2) Union Carbide was originally forced to pay US$470 million in compensation to survivors, which amounts to about US$500 per victim. (3) Arrested in India following the accident, Andersen posted US$2000 bail and successfully escaped India. (4) Dow settled Union Carbide's asbestos liabilities in the US, and paid US$10 million to one family poisoned by a Dow pesticide. This is a mark of Dow's corporate responsibility. # 30 #
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