Document 06X6jOvaOO4zL3g2QrEvJ9Exn

702 H St NW Washington, DC 20001 1.800.326.0959 www.greenpeaceusa.org The Bhopal Chronology of Events December 2-3, 1984 - Poisonous gas leak from Union Carbide's pesticides factory. First Information Report filed on December 4. In three days around 8,000 people die: www.bhopal.net/death-toll.html December 7, 1984 - Prime accused Warren Anderson amongst nine others arrested, released on bail of 25,000 rupees. Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) named as accused #10 in the criminal case charging culpable homicide. February 1989 - Government and Union Carbide strike a settlement. The compensation amount is brought down to $470 million from $3.3 billion. UCC's criminal charges quashed - reinstated in 1991. April 1992 - After ignoring four court summonses, Anderson declared a fugitive from law. Magistrate in pending criminal proceedings ordered the attachment of the shares of Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) held by UCC. November 1994 - Supreme Court of India allows Union Carbide to sell off its encumbered assets to fund a hospital. Criminal proceedings against Union Carbide become difficult to enforce because, although the accused refuse to appear in court, Carbide no longer has any assets in India. August 1999 - Union Carbide announces forthcoming merger with Dow Chemical Company. November 1999 - Greenpeace tests soil, groundwa ter and wells in and around the derelict Union Carbide factory and finds 12 volatile organic chemicals and mercury in quantities up to six million times higher than expected. The toxic inventory includes sevin, temik, lindane carbon tetrachloride, dichlorobenzenes and others. A report by Delhi based Shristi in Jan 2002 found lead and mercury in the breast milk of nursing mothers in neighboring communities: www.bhopal.net/contamination.html November 1999 - Several victims of Bhopal disaster file class action suit against Union Carbide and its former CEO, Warren Anderson, in federal court in New York, charging Carbide with violating international human rights law, environmental law, and international criminal law. February 2001 - Merger occurs. Dow inherits assets and liabilities of Union Carbide. However, Dow claims it is not responsible for a factory it didn't operate lawyers advise that under Indian and U.S. law this is legal nonsense. Survivors demand Dow should be held responsible for all medical and environmental lia bilities in Bhopal and that pending criminal liabilities against UCC be transferred to Dow. Dow's $10 billion acquisition of Union Carbide opens the possibility of enforcing criminal liability against the corporation as Dow has four subsidiaries and substantial assets in India. November 2001 - U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals reinstates parts of the class action, allowing all claims of pollution and contamination unrelated to the disaster to proceed. Internal documents are obtained from Union Carbide via the discovery process: www.earthrights.org/bhopal/ January 9, 2002 - Dow accepts Carbide's liabilities in the U.S. and settles a Texas asbestos lawsuit original ly filed against Union Carbide. Its share price skids 23 percent to close at $26.83 on Jan. 18. The plunge wipes out $7.16 billion in equity and put Dow shares back where they were in October 2000. May 9, 2002 - Survivors tour of U.S. International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB) and Greenpeace members have an informal meeting with Mr. Michael Parker, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Dow Chemical, during a demonstration in front of the Dow Annual General Meeting in Midland, Michigan, U.S. May 25, 2002 - `The Ten Bhopal Principles on Corporate Accountability' launched at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) prepcom in Bali. The Bhopal Principles are available on www.greenpeaceusa.org/bhopal July 19, 2002 - Launch of 28-day hunger strike in Delhi by representatives of survivors organization and global relay hunger strike due to proposal to lower charges against Warren Anderson. July 17 - August 15, 2002 - Diane Wilson, an Unreasonable Woman, starts a 22 day hunger strike outside a Dow facility in Texas. August 12, 2002 - World-renowned photographer Raghu Rai's exhibition and accompanying photo graphic book `Exposure' - a collection of photographs of Bhopal from 1984 to 2002 - , produced by Rai and Greenpeace, premieres in Bombay and then moves on to Delhi and Chennai. August 27, 2002 - The world tour of `Exposure' starts with a premiere at the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg before moving on to Zurich, Switzerland, Venice, Italy and Kassel, Germany. It is also scheduled to be shown in Argentina, Israel, China, Philippines, New Zealand, the Netherlands and the United States. August 28, 2002 - Charges of culpable homicide against Warren Anderson reaffirmed by Chief Judicial Magistrate Kothe in Bhopal court. Court demands his immediate extradition from the U.S. to India. August 28, 2002 - Greenpeace and ICJB take action at a polluting Dow facility in South Africa. August 29, 2002 - Following a lead from the UK's Daily Mirror, Greenpeace finds Warren Anderson and visits him at luxury home in New York, U.S. Anderson, the CEO of Union Carbide at the time of the 1984 disaster. He, together with the rest of Union Carbide, now Dow, is responsible for the situation in Bhopal. He has been in hiding for wanted by Interpol for over a decade. Greenpeace issues him an arrest warrant. September 2, 2002 - Greenpeace and ICJB, along with the student community, do an action outside Dow India Headquarters in Bombay to coincide with the Ministerial meeting at WSSD. September 30, 2002 - A new study from The People's Science Institute, Dehra Dun confirms the presence of mercury in Bhopal drinking water, in some places as high as two micrograms per liter, and warns of grave risk to health. People have been drink ing the water for 18 years after the gas leak. October 4, 2002 - Bhopal survivor, Champa Devi Shukla and Pranay Sharma of Sambhavana Clinic, along with Greenpeace activists held a three day dharna (protest) outside Dow's facility in Horgen, Switzerland, until Luciano Respini, CEO of Dow Europe agrees to a meeting. They deliver a jhadoo (broom) along with their demands to him. The "Jhaadoo Maaro Dow Ko" campaign is launched by survivors in Bhopal two days later. The phrase means "Hit Dow with a broom." In India, the broom is a pow erful symbol. By giving it, survivors are inviting Dow to clean up its toxic mess and promising it will be sweep Dow out of India if it does not. October 18, 2002 - Indian Central Bureau for Investigation representative, Mr Sahay, states that he has appealed to the Union government to name Dow alongside its criminally absconding subsidiary Union Carbide. Once permission is granted, Dow Chemical will also be an accused in the case. October 21, 2002 - State of Madhya Pradesh, in which Bhopal is located, announces that it will petition the Indian Supreme Court to compel Dow Chemical to clean up the contaminated soil and ground water at the Union Carbide factory site. October 21 - 23, 2002 - Indian Minister of State for Home Affairs, I D Swamy, and External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, in separate interviews tell reporters that India is proceeding with an application to extradite Carbide's ex-CEO Warren Anderson from the U.S. October 25, 2002 - Technical guidelines for the clean-up of Carbide's abandoned factory site, drawn up by Greenpeace scientists, are presented to Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh and simultaneously handed over at Dow offices in India, Europe and the U.S. The guidelines indicate that clean-up costs could top $500 million USD. October 25, 2002 - Mrs. Rashida Bi, Bhopal survivor, and Dr. Quaiser of Sambhavana Clinic, go on a 16day tour with Greenpeace through France, Belgium, Netherlands and Italy, where they confront executives of Dow Chemical and chemical industry associations in different countries with jhadoos they had carried with them from Bhopal. They also meet with victims of other chemical disasters, Dow workers, members of parliament and other public officials. They also make a presentation at the European Social Forum in Naples, Italy. November 9, 2002 - Bhopal survivor Champa Devi Shukla takes the Jhadoo Maro campaign to Cuddalore and Chennai in Tamil Nadu, India. November 11, 2002 - Plaintiffs organizations share documents from the discovery process of the U.S. class action suit with the Indian Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI). The documents disclose that the company and Warren Anderson had imposed "unproven technology" on their Bhopal factory in the critical MIC unit. CBI acknowledges that the docu ments will be of great use for prosecution and the extradition of Warren Anderson. November 14, 2002 - Survivors release documents obtained via discovery in the New York class action. Documents show that UCC imposed `unproven tech nology' in the critical MIC unit in order to cut costs and retain control of their Indian subsidiary. November 19, 2002 - Greenpeace and the ICJB erect signs to warn people living around an area of land used by Union Carbide to dump its hazardous waste when the factory was operating is contaminated with toxic chemicals. Some people have been digging up soil from the area and using it to build their houses. November 22, 2002 - Greenpeace and the ICJB makes a set of secret Union Carbide documents public. The documents show that Union Carbide tested soil and water in and around its factory in Bhopal after the disaster and found them to be heavi ly contaminated. It did not make this information pub lic but used another report, which said there was no contamination, to appease the public and the govern ment of India. The confidential documents show they considered the findings of this report to be unreliable. November 25, 2002 - Survivor organizations, com munity members and Greenpeace attempted to safely contain the hazardous pesticides in Bhopal. Greenpeace activists trained in hazardous material handling arrive from around the world to lend their expertise, but efforts were thwarted by local police, who beat and arrested 56 people. December 2, 2002 - Bhopal survivors and supporters take samples of contaminated soil and water from the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal to Dow's Indian headquarters in Mumbai (Bombay) and hand them over, together with more than 4,000 jhadoos collected in Bhopal, Chennai (Madras) and Trivandrum, Accepting the samples and the brooms on behalf of the company, Finance Director Anand Vohra tells the ICJB delegation that he would personally recommend to his superiors "that action should be taken to allevi ate the plight of gas-affected people in Bhopal". December 3, 2002 - As thousands of survivors solemnly gather in a vigil in Bhopal on the 18th anniversary of the gas disaster, activists in the United States confront Dow CEO Michael Parker at his home in Midland, Michigan, as he has entertains guests at a dinner party. Parker meets with the activists, and promises to release the composition of the gas, previ ously considered by the company as an off-limit trade secret. The information could help physicians who are trying to appropriate treat the 150,000 chronically ill gas-affected Bhopal survivors. December 3, 2002 - Leaders from socially responsi ble investment firms, with assets totaling $13 billion USD, send a letter to Dow CEO Parker and Board Chair William Stavropoulos, urging them to quickly settle their liabilities in Bhopal. December 4, 2002 - The internet is abuzz with new proclamations on Bhopal from www.dowchemical.com, which many believe is the official company site. This internet spoof from the Yes Men gathers over 250,000 hits in the first 48 hours. Due to legal pressure, the site eventually moves to www.dowethics.com December 13, 2002 - Citing weak financial perform ance, Dow replaces CEO Michael Parker with Board Chair and former CEO William Stavropoulos. The downturn in Dow's financial performance and stock value is parallel with its purchase of Union Carbide. December 19, 2002 - Dow India files suit against Bhopal survivors and Greenpeace for its role in the December 2, 2002 peaceful demonstration in Bombay. Citing loss of work, Dow seeks compensa tion of 500,000 rupees, about ten thousand USD, from survivors, most of whom make 2,000 to 5,000 rupees a month. January 7, 2003 - Bhopal survivor Rashida Bi and Greenpeace activists return four barrels of toxic waste from the Bhopal plant to Dow Chemical. The action takes places at Dow's second largest facility world wide, in Terneuzen, the Netherlands; the waste travels to the Netherlands from India on Greenpeace's Arctic Sunrise sailing vessel. Twenty-one activists are arrest ed in the protest, including Bi and Greenpeace U.S. Executive Director John Passacantando. Dow refers to this action as "regrettable." January 16, 2003 - As the World Social Forum began in Brazil, Greenpeace activists erected scaffolding in front of Dow Chemical's Latin American headquarters in Sao Paulo with the message "Bhopal Corporate Crime" painted on the sides in Portuguese, Spanish and English. January 21, 2003 - Greenpeace activists deliver 18 barrels of toxic waste collected from Bhopal, India to Dow Chemical's European headquarters in Horgen, Switzerland, just as business and political leaders are gathering in Davos for the World Economic Forum. January 30, 2003 - Greenpeace staged a protest at the Dow Chemical factory in Tsing Yi, Hong Kong. The same day leading Indian medical specialists from different disciplines spoke out at a press conference in Bhopal reveal how residents continue to suffer from illnesses as a result of the abandoned factory. For constant updates and the latest news as it occurs, please keep checking: http://www.bhopal.net http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/bhopal