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Navin's News: Olympic site

Launch of Campaign against LOCOG at the Olympic Stadium

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I was joined by Labour Friends of India and a cross-party coalition of MPs at the Olympic Site yesterday to urge the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) to review its decision to award Dow Chemical Company the contract to build the decorative wrapping on the Olympic Stadium. I feel that Dow's appalling human rights record with regards to the victims of the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster puts the Olympic legacy at risk.

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Background

Dow owns Union Carbide Corporation, which was responsible for the 1984 gas leak in Bhopal, India. Half a million people were exposed to the gas and 25,000 people have died as a result of their exposure. More than 120,000 people still suffer from ailments caused by the accident and the subsequent pollution at the plant site.

Health and human rights groups in Bhopal continue to report high rates of congenital deformities and cancers among families who are forced to use contaminated groundwater sources. More than 10 independent scientific studies show dangerous levels of chemicals such as carbon tetrachloride in water supplies.

Dow bought UCC in 2001. It denies responsibility for UCC's Bhopal liabilities and claims the $470m paid by UCC in 1991 to disaster was final. This settlement gave victims an average payout of only $630, and many received nothing.

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15th November 2011