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Subscribe to RSSA member of the body that oversees sustainability issues for the London Olympics has resigned in protest over a sponsorship deal with Dow Chemical, an act reflecting the company's latest setback in trying to generate goodwill as a Games partner.
Meredith Alexander, who sat on the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012, said she had decided to quit the independent body because she "didn't want to be party to a defense of Dow," the American company's ties to the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster, which killed 25,000 in India.
"People should be free to enjoy London 2012 without this toxic legacy on their conscience," she said in a statement released by rights group Amnesty International. "It is appalling that 27 years on, the site has still not been cleaned up and thousands upon thousands of people are still suffering."
Related: Complete Olympics coverage
Dow has denied any responsibility for the pesticide plant accident. The former owner, Union Carbide, settled its liabilities with the Indian government by paying $470 million. Dow merged with the Union Carbide Corp. in 2001.
Almost all publicity resulting from Dow becoming one of the 11 major games sponsors has been negative, the BBC reported.
Dow in 2010 signed on as one of 11 Worldwide Olympic Partners in a multimillion-dollar deal lasting until 2020, the BBC said. However, almost every story written about Dow associates the company's name with Bhopal, one of the world's worst industrial disasters.
Rights groups, athletes and Indian and British politicians have spoken out against Dow and signed petitions against Dow's participation.
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The company paid 7 million pounds (nearly $11 million) for fabric panels to wrap around the London Olympic stadium, but to assuage public protest, Dow agreed not to put its logo on the decoration, the BBC said.
But the world's second-largest chemical manufacturer isn't giving up, George Hamilton, vice president for Dow Olympic Operations, told the BBC.
Dow wants to talk about what chemistry brings to the world in terms of supplying solutions in the field of water transportation, agriculture and energy, he said.
Dow materials are in the urethane foam in the track, polymer fibers in the super-fast hockey pitches, materials in stadium walls, floors and roofs, and insulation technology in the broadcast and electrical cables, the BBC said.
Additionally, Dow is looking ahead to the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, and the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China, and to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the BBC said.
"We're well known in the U.S. and Western Europe, but our profile is not that high in growth economies like Brazil, China and India," Hamilton told the BBC.
This article includes reporting from Reuters and msnbc.com staff.
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What an idiot. Bhopal happened in 1984 when the plant was a Union Carbide plant. Dow did not purchase Union Carbide until 2001. How could Dow be held responsible for what Union Carbide did 17 years before the purchase? The company is not perfect by any means, but using Bhopal as a reason is just plain stupid.
When you buy a company, you get it all. The debt to the people of Bhopal apparently still isn't settled. Dow should not have purchased Union Carbide unless it was ready to make good on it's debts. The settlement with the Indian government likely lined the pockets of the politicians and did little or nothing for the people. Try buying Tepco and see if Fukushima ever goes away.
The American chemical industry has only ever brought death and their products are useless.
Wags, I agree completely with you. How is the current company "responsible" for an accident 17 years prior. While I understand any problems associated with the old firm are rolled into the new one to blame Dow is just crazy. If the Indian government settled then why is this even a story?
Maybe England shouldn't have the Olympics since they killed so many people building the Empire!
Maybe you should get your facts straight The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is hosting the Olympics... England is just a part of the Union... and don't get me started on who killed who... all nations have blood on their hands
the bloodiest would be us as Americans and our slaughter of thousands of innocents with TWO nuclear bombs and we call them terrorist. We are the original terrorist and the original reapers of weapons of mass destruction.
The British killed far more Indians than Union Carbide.
This woman is a fracking idiot. Wags is right on target. The previous owners of Union Carbide were responsible for the disaster, and they even settled with the Indian gov't. If the Indian government neglected to use the settlement money to actually clean up the area and help the people that were affected, how in the world is it Dow's fault 17 years later when they bought UC? Is Dow now supposed to pay even more money towards cleanup, when it's obvious the original funds weren't used properly?
Besides, who's even heard of this Bhopal disaster? I'd never heard of it at all, until reading this article.
@KyEngineer: Well, that just shows your ignorance, doesn't it. Unfortunately, despite admitting your ignorance you didn't stop from passing a judgement that Dow was off the hook. Anytime a company buys another company I thought they buy the assets as well as the liabilities.
What further liability? As far as I can tell, UC settled their liability for the accident with the Indian government. If UC settled with the government BEFORE Dow came along, how in the world is Dow still somehow responsible?
Once the settlement was reached, who became responsible for the cleanup? I don't know Indian laws, so I don't want to assume. If the Indian gov't was then responsible, why didn't they use the settlement funds to clean up the area?!? Why aren't people pissed at the gov't for brushing this under the rug? Instead of a company that bought them years later?
Just as an FYI, I have no great love for any of these large chemical companies. They would all poison the environment to make a quick buck. But in this case, it wasn't Dow's fault that UC caused a disaster a decade before they were bought out.
Move on people. Dow did not cause the disaster but took over Union Carbide years later. Dow can not be continually blamed for actions of the former corporation. The London Olympics oversight committee has missed a step.
Do you realize how many people were killed or WORSE in Bhopal? The settlement come out to a very small amount per family, many who were born with birth defects received NOTHING. TO THIS DAY CHILDREN IN THAT AREA ARE BEING BORN WITH SEVERE BIRTH DEFECTS. Neither Union Carbide nor Dow ever cleaned up the mess or took responsibility for the catastrophe. Most of the upper management of Union Carbide just transferred to Dow so you can't say Dow had no part in this. If they or Union Carbide would have ever publicly accepted responsibility then I would say let them sponsor the games, but they have tried to brush it under the rug and externalize the cost which I find to be one of the more evil aspects of corporate America. I think wag will be talking out of the other side of his face in a few years when they real damage another chemical giant is currently doing to our food source comes to light.
Proud parent of a Monsanto lab rat!!
When you purchase a used car, or buy a house some else has lived in, you BUY the problems too, full well knowing it up front. So DOW is responsible for what Union Carbide did years ago, and if they did not want to deal with the legacy Union Carbide left behind, then don't buy the company....simple as that! Man up and take responsibility for it DOW! You will come out looking better for it, in the end.
I beg to differ, Mr. Hamilton. Your company's profile is VERY high in India and just gets higher every time a baby in Bhopal is born with flippers instead of hands.