Dow: Olympic volunteer quits, protests flare
More politicians in UK have joined the protests against Dow Chemical after a commissioner of an ethics watchdog for London Olympics resigned over the company\\\’s links with the 1984 Bhopal Gas disaster.
Meredith Alexander said she was quitting the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012, on principle as it is unaccetable for her to be part of a description that publicly endorsed Dow.
Ms. Alexander said she wants to bring attention to the toxic legacy of Bhopal.
In her statement in London, Alexander said, "I don`t want to be party to a defence of Dow Chemicals, the company responsible for one of the worst corporate human rights violations in my generation. It is appalling that 27 years on, the site has still not been cleaned up and thousands upon thousands of people are still suffering.
Following her resignation, senior party leaders such as Keith Vaz and Tessa Jowell ministers have joined the chorus against the multinational.
Shadow Olympic minister Jowell has called today for an audit of the steps taken that led the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012 to recommend to LOCOG that Dow Chemicals’ sponsorship of the wrap was consistent with the high sustainability aims that we set for 2012.
She added: "We also need to understand what the role of other Commissioners was in the process which reached that conclusion. We need a solution not a row.”
The Indian NGOs working for the welfare of the victims have applauded Alexander\\\’s brave decision. The groups have also demanded the scrapping of the sponsorship deal.
However, the Indian government is still silent on these recent developments. The UK politicians and Indian activists have asked the Indian politicians to take a stand on the issue.
Another Labour MP Barry Gardiner said that, " this is not just a UK campaign and pressure needs to come from India."
A Bhopal activist also demanded that, "when people outside India are protesting against Dow\\\’s association with Olympics, our government should also write to IOC to boycott the company."
However, as per the media reports, the London Olympics Organising Committee said on Friday that Dow Chemicals will remain the sponsors of the 2012 London Olympics.
The chief executive of the London Olympics said that the clean up of the Bhopal disaster site is the Indian government\\\’s responsibility, the reports state.
Dow is now the parent company of the Union Carbide. In 1984, a gas leak from the Union Carbide plant in the central Indian city of Bhopal killed an estimated 15,000 people and injured half a million.
