Bhopal Victims Protest Dursban In India
29 April 2008 Victims of the tragic Bhopal gas leak of 1984 staged a demonstration against the registration of Dursban (chlorpyrifos) pesticide in India, according to Thaindian News.
The Dow Chemical product, which remains available for use in India, was under fire from the victims as a hazardous substance. The protestors claimed that officials of the Agriculture Ministry were bribed to allow the product to be registered.
Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar ordered an enquiry into the matter on May 4, 2007, but no action has been taken.
“We have come here to tell Sharad Pawar that the registration of Dursban should be immediately cancelled. There are two other pesticides, namely Nurail and Pride, and unless the registration of these are cancelled, we will continue with our protest,” said protestor Rachna Dingra.
More than 3,500 people died in the days and weeks after the toxic methyl iscocyanate (MIC) fumes spewed out of a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India on December 2, 1984. Union Carbide accepted moral responsibility for the tragedy and established a US $100 million charitable trust fund to build a hospital for victims. Later, Union Carbide was taken over by Dow Chemicals. The company also paid $470 million to the Indian government in 1989 in a settlement reached after a long legal battle.
US-based Dow Chemical says it is not responsible for the clean-up, as it never owned or operated the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal. The Madhya Pradesh government now owns the abandoned plant.
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