Media Coverage - October 2002

This is an incomplete but constantly growing list of news items about Bhopal and Bhopal-related issues. Newest stories are listed first. Scroll down for older stories. If you know of articles and reports we have missed - and there are dozens - please point us to the urls. These are mainly links to media web pages. Some reports may be moved to archived elsewhere in the future. Please report any dead links here.

Our collection now reaches back to within months of the original gas leak. See Houston Chronicle archive (coming soon). Other Dow-Carbide related stories are here (or click the graphic at right). Complete list (huge) November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 Jan-July 2002 1968-end 2001

2002 - October

31 October - Cleanganga.com "Betwa River: lost opportunity" When the head of the pollution control agency is arrested for "aiding in the cause of industries polluting a river", you just know that things are bad ...The river: Betwa ...The Betwa originates at the famed lakes of Bhopal ... When V. K. Jain, chairman of the Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board (MPPCB), was arrested in February this year, the lie was exposed. The board had been issuing no - objection certificates to several polluting industries, including distilleries, in violation of norms. Jain is alleged to own palatial houses in Bhopal and Indore, two apartments in Mumbai and properties in Jabalpur and other places. How much more corruption is going on? We want to know exactly who are the officials responsible for making decisions about the clean-up of groundwater and drinking wells in Bhopal and what are the factors governing their decisions.

30 October - Bhopal Central Chronicle "'Awareness on industrial disasters needed'"

30 October - Channel News Asia "Bhopal tragedy victims stage protest in New Delhi "

30 October - Times of India "Bhopal gas tragedy: The battle isn't lost yet"

30 October - Bhopal Central Chronicle "This one is for Bhopal: Amithabh Bachchan" Filmstar dedicates award to town.

29 October - Times of India "Bhopal gas victims cry for justice"

29 October - Times of India "Threat of nuclear and bio weapons use exists: Advani"

28 October - Times of India "Laws should be dynamic: BN Kirpal"

28 October - Swissinfo "Catastrophe de Bhopal: Greenpeace demande des dédommagements" Greenpeace et des victimes de la catastrophe de Bhopal en Inde ont déposé une pétition au siège européen de Dow Chemical. Ils demandent notamment des dédommagements financiers. Il y a 18 ans, 2000 personnes étaient mortes intoxiquées par des gaz. Champa Devi and Pranay make the Swiss press.

28 October - Houston Chronicle "Dow Chemical workers vote to stick with union"

27 October - Bhopal Central Chronicle "Cured leprosy patients to be felicitated"

27 October - Bhopal Central Chronicle "Doctors reaching hospitals late would face action" 'About time!

26 October - The Japan Times "Japan shares its antipollution expertise - Grassroots work the best way to combat Asia's environment problems". Message from Minamata group that co-operates with Bhopal survivors' organisations

25 October - Midland Daily News "Dow to freeze salaries, take other steps to deal with tough economic times"

25 October - Midland Daily News "Carbide declares partial victory in asbestos case" A fascinating insight into the twisted workings of Carbide's PR mind, as articulated by chief doublespeaker John Musser. Here Carbide discovers victory in a court defeat in the same way that it found it had no outstanding legal problems in India after a judge issued warrants for the arrest of its ex-CEO and demanded that the company appear to answer criminal charges relating to the deaths of 20,000 people. Imagine how Musser would have reacted to the 1989 settlement, also much less than Carbide had feared? Was that a victory? They will not get off the hook so lightly this time. No wonder they are union bashing, freezing salaries and trying to build up their cash reserves. See previous story. Thanks to a greedy and obdurate management, Bhopal will end up destroying Dow, as it has already destroyed Carbide.

25 October - Charleston Gazette" Carbide should pay, jury decides - Safe work environment around asbestos not provided, verdict says. "Union Carbide exposed workers to “unreasonable” work conditions for 35 years and should pay for it, a Kanawha County jury decided Thursday. Between 1945 and 1980, Union Carbide failed to provide a safe work environment for workers who worked around asbestos fibers, jurors said. Jurors decided that if future trials determine Union Carbide is to blame for individual workers’ illnesses, those workers’ monetary awards should be tripled. Plaintiffs’ attorneys said after the trial that they were most pleased with that part of the verdict."

25 October - Charleston Daily Mail "New jury now will determine damages in Dow Chemical case " Dow spokesman John Musser - veteran of many many courtrooms in which Carbide (Dow) has been accused of appalling indifference to the health of both customers and workers (see our Dirty Dow section) said "the verdict against Union Carbide is being called a partial victory because of the level at which punitive damages were set and because the jury did not affirm the plaintiff's claims for all time periods in the case. "Obviously we would not want to see any potential liability, but it's not surprising to us -- given the procedural deficiencies in the trial court plan that we have challenged at the West Virginia Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court," Musser said. "Frankly, we think it's remarkable that we did score a partial victory." As ever, not a word of contrition.This company's arrogance is remarkable even by most corporate standards.

25 October - Central Chronicle, Bhopal "Contaminated soil round UCC plant should be purified in the US"

25 October -Times of India "'Dow should accept liabilities of Bhopal gas tragedy'"

24 October - MSN Money "Jury Rules Against Union Carbide" CHARLESTON, W.V./NEW YORK (Reuters) - A West Virginia jury on Thursday found Dow Chemical Co.'s (DOW) Union Carbide unit exposed workers to asbestos poisoning over a 35-year period, opening the door to millions of dollars in potential damages.

23 October - Commondreams.org "Pharmaceuticals, Pesticides, and Radiation Cause Breast Cancer... While Wealthy Non-Profits and Feds Protect Industry" An expose of how the same companies that cause cancer also sell cancer drugs, thus creating for themselves a regular human harvest.

23 October - Sify News "Army withdrawal not under pressure: Swamy" Union Minister of State for Home I D Swamy on Wednesday said...the then Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) chairman Warren Anderson would also be extradited from the US in connection with the Bhopal gas tragedy criminal case.

22 October - Times of India "Every society should have youths willing to sacrifice life: VHP" Old men urge young to sacrifice themselves

21 October - New York Post "Weird but true" - A Florida man is granted permission to keep a tiger in his back yard, Serbian villagers give their brides-to-be the broomstick test and, yes, there is a mention of Bhopal somewhere in this olla-podrida of oddities.

21 October - Central Chronicle, Bhopal " Traffic Police launch 'Operation Clean'" Hooray!

21 October - Hindustan Times "Sambhavna Trust Clinic gets MEAD2001 award"

21 Ocotober - Sify News "India to try best for extraditing Anderson, Salem"

20 October - Gallup "Warning: Corporate scandals may demoralize employees" (From Hindustan Times)

20 October - Indian Express "Madhya Pradesh wants DOW to clean up Carbide mess" Poor old Dow. It's all coming home to roost. Yesterday they find they are to join Union Carbide in the dock in the criminal case in Bhopal, and now the Madhya Pradesh government is planning to ask the Supreme Court to order Dow to clean up the death factory at its own expense. Dow shareholders, take note.

19 October - Central Chronicle, Bhopal " CBI moving fresh application for extraditing Anderson" The CBI reports on its progress towards the extradition of Anderson. Compare the speed with which it acted in the case of Abu Salem (see coverage for 21 September et seq). The really sensational news is buried in paragraph three: "Referring to the plea of Jai Prakash of Bhopal Gas Pidit Samiti that Dow Chemicals which had taken over Union Carbide should also be named as the accused in the Bhopal gas leak disaster case, Sahay said that they have sought the permission of the Union government for the same. Following the permission, Dow Chemicals would also be made an accused in the case."

18 October - Outlook India "'Union Carbide workers not trained in safety measures'"

18 October - Central Chronicle, Bhopal " 'UCIL plant safety equipments were not functioning'" The court in Bhopal hears from Mr Gauri Shankar, on duty the night of the fatal gas leak about all the things that should have been working and were not. As usual Accused No. 1 (Warren Anderson) and Accused No.10 (Union Carbide Corporation, now wholly owned by Dow Chemical Corporation) did not bother to show up.

16 October -Rediff.Com "A convenient naivete, or a guilty connivance?" Ashwin Mehta's funny yet appalling account of meeting a World Bank official and confronting him with the real world consequences of his decisions. A must-read.

15 October - Mumbai Newsline "Disciple of Begum Akhtar resurrects magic"

14 October - "Images recall horror of Bhopal" - Raghu Rai's Bhopal pictures in the Volkart touring exhibition
Photographs of what has been described as the world’s biggest chemical disaster have gone on display in Switzerland.

14 October - Bhopal Central Chronicle "Bhopal will soon start global patrolling system" A Bhopali plan for world domination?

10 October - Bhopal Central Chronicle "Bhopal turning as 'city of garbage'"

10 October - KlubQ News Network - World's longest ear tufts.
"An Indian gentleman by the name of B D Tyagi from the city of Bhopal (scene of the 1984 Union Carbide chemical disaster) has been officially recognised by the Guuniess Book Of Records for having the longest ear hair in the World. Mr Tyagi's splendid "lug locks" measure in at a staggering 10.2cm."

8 October - Central Chronicle, Bhopal " HC dismisses UCIL petition"

8 October - Central Chronicle, Bhopal " Gas Relief Committee rejects diversion of UCC funds"

7 October - Science News "Researchers Create New Strategy For Removing Arsenic From Soil" Genetic engineers to the rescue of those drinking arsenic-polluted water. "Arsenic contamination is an enormous worldwide problem...arsenic-laden waters are causing sickness in millions of people--far outstripping the damage caused by the radiation leak in Chernobyl or the chemical catastrophe in Bhopal, India." Quotes one Om Dhankher, "a native of India," as saying ""In all, this is several fold worse than Chernobyl and Bhopal, and it is getting little attention." Mr Dhanker and the Frankensteins obviously don't know how badly the groundwater in Bhopal is polluted, nor the numbers of people forced to drink it. Watch for more info on this - it will be worth following up.

6 October - Sify News "Bhopal NGO to move SC for potable water "

6 October - Western Catholic Reporter "The ocean is but many drops of water" Interview with Dominique Lapierre

6 October - The Scotsman "India's impotent are a force to be reckoned with " As the fascination with the Bhopal hinjra gathering continues. Eunuch leader Raj Sinha claims "A large section of society sees eunuchs as a better option against corrupt politicians." The Scotsman notes that eunuchs are credited with occult powers, and observes " The only thing worse than being on the receiving end of a eunuch’s curse, it is said, is to be flashed at by a eunuch. A recent trend to emerge from India’s commercial capital is for debtors to be threatened with the sight beneath a eunuch’s sari." Watch out Dow.

6 October - Deepika Global "Rs 1-crore granted for Narmada Drinking Water Scheme's survey"

5 October - Times of India "Bhopal in troubled waters" People's Science Institute, Dehra Dun, finds mercury in drinking water near the factory.

5 October - La Vanguardia "De vagabundo a filántropo" Profile of Dominique Lapierre.

5 October - Central Chronicle, Bhopal "Decks cleared to bring Narmada water to city"

4 October - Business Day " Toxic cargoes worry environmentalists" Now, floating Bhopals

3 October - Central Chronicle, Bhopal " Beware of 'MDs'"

2 October - The Scotsman "Blair's like-it-or-lump-it message for the sceptics" The merest mention of Bhopal and that from the Scotsman not Our Great Leader. But a piquant one nonetheless.

2 October - El Pais "LOS EUNUCOS INDIOS CELEBRAN UN FESTIVAL" The eunuchs again, cutting a rug. But the writer recalls "la catástrofe ocasionada en 1984 por un escape tóxico que mató a 8.000 personas y ha dejado innumerables damnificados."

1 October - Central Chronicle, Bhopal " Pride of place for Chronicle"