 Human rights activists and supporters of the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB) are protesting the involvement of Dow Chemical Company in the Live Earth 6K Run that is to take place at various locations worldwide, including in Oakland, Antioch and San Mateo on Sunday, the 18th of April. While the Live Earth Run is being advertized by DOW as an “educational event about the global water crisis”, victims of DOW’s environmental crimes worldwide see it as an attempt by DOW to Greenwash its egregious record of environmental and human right violations.
Sunday, April 18 at 10 am to noon Lake Merritt (Oak & 14th), Oakland Sponsored by Friends of South Asia Environmental advocates worldwide are challenging DOW to stand behind its claims of wanting to “help solve the water crisis” by cleaning up toxic wastes from the factory site in Bhopal that are continuing to contaminate ground water 25 years after the disastrous gas leak in 1984. Studies of water samples by Greenpeace have found that toxic chemicals (in quantities that greatly exceed World Health Organization’s guidelines, including some up to 2,400 times the safe level), have seeped into the water supplies of an estimated 30,000 people in the area. This water, contaminated with heavy metals & organochlorines is resulting in an epidemic of health problems in Bhopal , including high rates of birth defects, rapidly rising cancer rates, neurological damage, mental illnesses and reproductive abnormalities. Dow is the 11th top corporate air polluter in the U.S. , according to PERI, the Political Economy Research Institute, an independent unit of the University of Massachusetts , Amherst . In North America, Dow is responsible for dangerous dioxin contamination around its global headquarters in Midland , Michigan , vinyl chloride contamination in Louisiana , and dioxin & furan contamination in Western Canada . In addition, Dow toxins are poisoning people and ecosystems in Vietnam , India , South Africa , New Zealand , Brazil , and Central America . For further information on these issues, including factsheets and refutations of DOW’s corporate propaganda, please go to: www.bhopal.net The Bhopal campaign has significant support in the San Francisco Bay Area. As part of an International Day of Action that commemorated the 25th anniversary of the gas leak, a “die-in” action was organized in San Francisco ’s Union Square on December 3rd, 2009, and a candle light vigil was held on campus at UC Berkeley. In March 2010, over 150 supporters of the Bhopal campaign gathered at two events - a staged reading of the play “Bhopal” at CounterPulse theatre in San Francisco, and a screening in Milpitas of the documentary “The Yes Men Fix the World”, about the international campaign in support of Bhopal. These events were organized by Friends of South Asia, Theater Rasa Nova, and the Association for India ’s Development. Please sign the petition at http://bhopal.net/petition/, which asks the organizers of Live Earth to dissociate the event from Dow Chemicals. Stand in solidarity with the victims of DOW’s corporate crimes – visit www.studentsforbhopal.org to get involved in local protests that are asking DOW to invest in cleanup efforts that’ll save human lives, rather than in PR efforts that are only designed to distract the public from its ugly environmental record. Further Information: · International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal www.bhopal.net · Association for India’s Development www.aidindia.org · Friends of South Asia www.friendsofsouthasia.org · Students for Bhopal : http://www.studentsforbhopal.org/ · Staged reading in San Francisco (March 27, 2010) of the play “ Bhopal ”: http://counterpulse.org/a-staged-reading-of-bhopal/ · Screening in Milpitas of documentary about the Bhopal Campaign (March 28, 2010): http://www.friendsofsouthasia.org/ · DOW Accountability Network: www.thetruthaboutdow.org/ · Political Economy Research Institute (PERI)’s list of top polluters in the U.S. www.peri.umass.edu/Toxic-100-Table.265.0.html · Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=348498538304&ref=ts | 