December 3rd marks the 21st anniversary of the deadly gas leak from a pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, that took more than 15,000 lives. Today, former CEO Warren Anderson is a fugitive from the law. Wanted on charges of manslaughter, he has students, nuns, investors, and an enraged fisherwoman from Texas demanding accountability. Anderson was the CEO of Union Carbide in 1984 when its poorly maintained pesticide factory exploded in Bhopal, filling the streets of the city with toxic clouds of methyl isocyanate gas. "In those apocalyptic moments no one knew what was happening. People simply started dying in the most hideous ways. Some vomited uncontrollably, went into convulsions and fell dead. Others choked to death, drowning in their own body fluids," the Bhopal Medical Appeal reported. The Indian government charged Anderson and Union Carbide with manslaughter for killing 15,000 people, and claimed damages for injuries to 100,000 more. Union Carbide is now a fully owned subsidiary of Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW).  Twenty one years after the explosion, Anderson has yet to appear for his criminal trial in India. Meanwhile, the citizens of Bhopal who survived that ghoulish night continue to die not only from the long-term effects of continuing contamination, but also from the poverty that comes from being too sick to support a family. Survivors of the Bhopal gas leak are demanding that Anderson and Dow face trial, clean up the toxic site, pay for medical treatment and compensation for illnesses, and provide economic rehabilitation for those whose ability to work has been affected. For more information about December 3, 2005 events, please see: PAN AP - http://ga4.org/ct/k1aJI591pmbQ/ - PAN UK Rachael Carson Lecture Leaflet -http://ga4.org/ct/ipaJI591pmbP/  - RAPAL Press Release  - http://ga4.org/ct/k7aJI591pmbY/  (Spanish) - PAN Germany -http://ga4.org/ct/i1aJI591pmbl/  (German)

 

The Toxic Release Inventory (TRI), managed by the U.S. EPA, is the key right-to-know database that catalogues toxic chemicals released by industrial facilities. It is a vital resource for the public to find out if, what kind, and the quantity of toxic chemicals released into their community's air, land, and water.  However, EPA is proposing drastic reductions to the scope of TRI; it is currently accepting public comment on this proposal (through January 13, 2006).  The EPA proposal would lessen the information available to the public by -. Allowing companies to pollute ten times as much before being required to report the details about how much toxic pollution was produced and where it went; - . Permitting facilities to hide information on persistent bioacculuative toxins (PBTs) if the production level is low, even though these substances can be harmful at low exposures and build up in people's bodies; and - . Changing annual reporting to every other year of reporting.   If you are interested in submitting your comments to EPA on this proposal or in finding out more, you can visit a helpful Web site set up by OMB Watch:

 

 

 

 

... levels of several banned pesticides next to an abandoned pesticide blending facility ... sampling around this facility, so the extent of the contamination is not ... http://www.allamericanpatriots.com/m-news+article+storyid-13703.html