Drop DOW Chemical as partner for London 2012 olympic games

http://current.com/groups/earth-care/93566123_pesticide-companies-on-trial-the-p...

Pesticide companies on trial: the people tell their stories.

The first order of business for the new Congress (and perhaps the new President) would be to enact both a US law, and an mutually enforceable international agreement, that requires the first responsibility of all licensed corporations to be protection of the public health and well being.
Violations of that would result in swift and suitable compensation and triple damages. Second violations would result in full Board of Directors and executive officers jail terms and dissolution of the corporation.

If your candidate, of whatever stripe, can't support this, find one who can.

http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=dow_chemical
Profile: Dow Chemical
Dow Chemical was a participant or observer in the following events:

1960-1973: Agent Orange Used in Vietnam

In Vietnam, the US military uses about 21 million gallons of Agent Orange to defoliate the jungle in order to deny enemy fighters cover. The defoliant—manufactured primarily by Monsanto and Dow Chemical—gets its name from the 55-gallon drums it is shipped in that are marked with an orange stripe. At least 3,181 villages are sprayed with the highly toxic herbicide, which is comprised of a 50:50 mixture of 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T and contaminated with dangerous levels of dioxins. Much of the dioxin is TCDD, which is linked to liver and other cancers, diabetes, spina bifida, immune-deficiency diseases, severe diarrhea, persistent malaria, miscarriages, premature births, and severe birth defects. Between 2.1 and 4.8 million Vietnamese are exposed, as are about 20,000 US soldiers. According to Vietnamese estimates, Agent Orange is responsible for the deaths of 400,000 people. Because there is a continued presence of high dioxin levels in the food chain of several sprayed areas, the health effects of Agent Orange persist to the present day.

According to studies by Arnold Schecter of the University of Texas School of Public Health in Dallas, some Vietnamese have dioxin levels 135 times higher than people living in unsprayed areas. Schecter has called Vietnam “the largest contamination of dioxin in the world.” The Vietnamese believe the herbicide has contributed to birth defects in 500,000 children, many of them second and third generation. Though the US government has accepted responsibility for the health complications in US soldiers that resulted from exposure to Agent Orange (providing up to $1,989 per month for affected vets and more than $5,000 per month for those severely disabled and homebound), the US has refused to compensate Vietnamese victims. To date, no US agency, including the US Agency for International Development, has conducted any program in Vietnam to address the issue of Agent Orange. When asked by Mother Jones magazine in 1999 if the Vietnam government has raised the issue in private talks with the United States, a State Department official responds: “Ohhhh, yes. They have. But for us there is real concern that if we start down the road of research, what does that portend for liability-type issues further on?” [BBC, 11/19/1999; Mother Jones, 1/2000; BBC, 11/15/2000; BBC, 12/30/2001; Associated Press, 4/17/2003]

Entity Tags: Dow Chemical, Monsanto
Timeline Tags: US Military, US-Vietnam (1947-2001)
1965-1969: Dow Chemical, United Aircraft Corp., and Other Produce Napalm
Dow Chemical, and other companies like United Aircraft Corp. (which produced it for a shorter period of time), produce napalm for the US Army. [Business Week, 2/10/1969; San Francisco Chronicle, 4/1/2001]

Entity Tags: United Aircraft Corp, Dow Chemical
Timeline Tags: US Military
1981-1993: Western Businesses Sell Iraq WMD Materials
US and British companies are among several Western firms that sell Iraq materials that can be used to develop nuclear, chemical, biological, and conventional weapons. [Associated Press, 12/21/2002; New York Times, 12/21/2002;

More at the link.
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Is that why they are untouchable? Because they are part of the U.S. Military/ Pentagon? No wonder Jennifer Granholm was on their board and now names her show, "The War Room." Ironic isn't it?

And also ironic is how Bush and Co wanted to go to war with Iraq stating they had WMD, when the ingredients for them more than likely came from American and British companies!

The people of Bhopal could be people in any part of the world due to the 1% and their hold on our enviroment. Having DOW sponsor the olympics is an affront to them all.

This is too important for some baby to come here and vote everything down over a grudge. Whoever you are, grow up.

http://gulfnews.com/news/world/india/protesters-block-trains-in-bhopal-1.942735

Protesters Block Trains In Bhopal

'The protesters — shouting slogans including "We want compensation" — said India's government accepted far too little in a 1985 settlement for $470 million (Dh1.72 billion), after initially asking for $3.3 billion. The government is seeking an additional $1.7 billion for the victims from Dow, and activists accuse the US company of not cleaning up oil and groundwater contamination in Bhopal. Meanwhile, Dow has maintained that the issue was resolved by the $470 million settlement.

Undermined

"When the moment came to ask for rights for compensation, why this betrayal? The government has undermined the victims," Dhingra said.

Bhopal activists and survivors are also calling for Dow Chemicals to be dropped as a sponsor of the 2012 London Olympics. On Friday, about 200 protesters marched to the now-abandoned plant and burned effigies of two Olympic officials.

At least 21 Indian Olympic athletes have urged the organisers of the London Games to end Dow's sponsorship, which includes a curtain-style wrap around a stadium where some Olympic events will be held.

India has said it has no plans to skip the Olympics, after the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh state, where Bhopal is located, wrote a letter last month to India's sports minister asking that the country boycott the Games. London Olympic organisers have said they will not change their position on Dow's sponsorship.'