By TCN News,
Cambridge (MA, USA): Ahead of the 30th anniversary of the Bhopal gas tragedy, the Council members of the City of Cambridge Mass. (USA) on November 24, Monday, unanimously adopted a Policy Order to divest from stocks in DOW, the company that bought over Union Carbide, responsible for the Bhopal industrial disaster.
The Order, initiated by the office of the Councilor Nadeem Mazen, among other things, asks the City Manager to “confer with the Board of the Cambridge Retirement System to determine if they hold Dow stocks and bonds and what steps can be taken to divest from all manner of engagement with Dow,” a release said here.
Courtesy: PTI
On the intervening night of Dec 2-3, 1984, a toxic gas leak from the Union Carbide Corporation’s pesticide plant in this Madhya Pradesh capital had killed and affected thousands of people. Around 3,000 people were killed instantly and many others suffered a lingering death over the years. It left victims injured and maimed, with many suffering lung cancer, kidney and liver failure and eye disorders after coming into contact with toxic methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas.
Mazen began his statement regarding the Policy Order by drawing attention to the “extremely grand scale of negligence on the side of Union Carbide”, and added, “When acquired by Dow for profitable means, the liability of the site still lies with them.”
He also highlighted the continued effects of the gas leak 30 years ago: “There is incredible devastation still at play (in Bhopal) simply because proper steps have not been taken and that is troubling for all of us, especially if it is something we are complicit in.”
After the policy was adopted, Mazen advocated a broader conversation in the city of Cambridge and with its many universities of the nature of investments and said, “It is a great first step. Now comes the arduous part of following up with the City Manager over the nature of retirement funds and the presence of DOW stock, if any, but that is something I intend to pursue.”
The Policy Order can be viewed at here.
Related:
Bhopal – Three decades of Struggle