PANUPS: Global Day of Action for Justice in Bhopal

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PANUPS: Global Day of Action for Justice in Bhopal

Fri, 03 Dec 2004 09:44:41 -0800

 

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P A N U P S

Pesticide Action Network Updates Service

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Global Day of Action for Justice in Bhopal

December 3, 2004

 

 

The international Pesticide Action Network (PAN) first designated

December 3 as a global " No Pesticides Use Day " in 1999, in

commemoration of

the horrific disaster at the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal,

India. Each year on this day PAN centers plan special events or launch

new campaigns highlighting the damages pesticides have brought to human

health and to the planet.

 

 

Today, on the 20th anniversary of the Bhopal tragedy, PAN member

organizations join with people around the world in commemorating the

ongoing

struggle of the Bhopal survivors. Twenty years ago, when a Union

Carbide pesticide plant exposed more than 500,000 people to toxic gas

that

caused 8,000 deaths within hours, it seemed inconceivable that Union

Carbide could escape responsibility. Yet, Bhopal survivors still struggle

to force Union Carbide and its new owner, Dow Chemical, to take

responsibility for the disaster, and to pay for medical costs,

compensation,

and clean-up of the still leaking site.

 

 

The Bhopali struggle for justice is deeply connected to work underway

all over the globe against toxic pesticides and unaccountable corporate

structures and practices. The enormity of the disaster revealed the

unacceptable risks of pesticides as they are manufactured and stored, in

addition to their risks during use. And Union Carbide/Dow Chemical's

ability (until now) to escape the true costs of compensation and cleanup

clearly demonstrates the ago-chemical corporations' transnational power

and impunity.

 

 

Yet the endurance, creativity, dignity and passion of Bhopal survivors

and their supporters worldwide are also an inspiring example of global

solidarity and commitment to building a movement for justice. The true

extent and reach of that movement is evident on the website for the

International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB),

http://www.bhopal.net, in the growing list of commemorative actions

around the world for the

Global Day of Action for Justice in Bhopal, organized by the ICJB.

Examples of activities at PAN centers include:

 

 

PAN Asia Pacific

The Asia/Pacific center is supporting partner groups' plans for

commemorations of Bhopal. In India, the Kerala based Thanal Conservation

Action and Information Network has sent a team of 10 people to Bhopal,

and

is also holding an exhibition on the impacts of the pesticide

endosulfan, which is highly acutely toxic and a suspected endocrine

disruptor. In

Kasargod communities, 20 years of aerial spraying of endosulfan for

cashew nut production has been linked to massive health problems,

including horrendous birth defects, cancers and death. In Bangladesh

and Sri

Lanka farmers and women's groups will hold candle light vigils, naming

those who died in Bhopal, and those who are still dying because of

pesticides. PAN Philippines will hold a press conference, a public forum,

distribute fliers and place streamers on major roads calling for Dow

Chemical to face a criminal trial in India. In China, the Pesticide

Eco-Alternatives Center Yunnan Thoughtful Action is organizing

students in

Kunming universities to visit nearby villages where pesticides are

heavily

used and farmers often suffer pesticide poisoning.

 

 

PAN UK

On December 3rd PAN UK will hold its Rachel Carson Memorial Lecture,

" Force Fed: How our newly industrialized food system leads to

environmental and human degradation " by Felicity Lawrence, consumer

affairs

reporter correspondent for the " Guardian. " Lawrence is author of " Not

on the

Label " which exposes how industrialized ways of producing food has

ravaged European farmland, increase incidence of cancer and obesity,

delivered adulterated foods and concentrated corporate power.

 

 

PAN North America

PANNA is screening the Bhopal Express, a feature film exploring the

human cost of the Bhopal disaster, at the Berkeley Ecology Center,

co-sponsored by the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal and the

Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives. (Call PANNA for details

at 415

981 1771). The December 2004 issue of Global Pesticide Campaigner

features multiple articles related to the Bhopal 20th Anniversary,

including

an editorial by Bhopal survivor and leader Rashida Bee, and is

available on the PANNA web site at http://www.panna.org.

 

 

PAN Latin America

In Peru, Red de Accion en Alternativas al Uso de Agroquimicos (RAAA)

has co-organized a Congressional Hearing and press event to highlight the

responsibility of the agrochemical company Bayer for the poisoning

deaths of 24 children in the remote Andean village of Tauccamarca in

October 1999. The children were stricken after eating a school breakfast

contaminated with the organophosphate pesticide methyl parathion, which

Bayer markets in Peru in the form of a white powder with no strong

chemical odor, in small plastic bags, labeled in Spanish and displaying a

picture of vegetables (the majority of people in the Andean region speak

Quechua and are not literate). The parents of the children sued Bayer in

2001, and Peruvian congressional committee found evidence of criminal

responsibility on the part of Bayer in 2002. The case is still in the

courts. The PAN Latin America Regional Center in Chile created a

commemorative poster focusing on pesticide health hazards, and PAN El

Salvador

is observing the day with a press conference and fair featuring organic

products.

 

 

Contact: PANNA, PAN Latin America, email rapalchile; PAN Asia

Pacific, email, panap: PAN UK, email, admin.

 

 

PANUPS is a weekly email news service providing resource guides and

reporting on pesticide issues that don't always get coverage by the

mainstream media. It's produced by Pesticide Action Network North

America, a

non-profit and non-governmental organization working to advance

sustainable alternatives to pesticides worldwide.

 

 

You can join our efforts! We gladly accept donations for our work and

all contributions are tax deductible in the United States. Visit

http://www.panna.org/donate.

 

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Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA)

49 Powell St., Suite 500, San Francisco, CA 94102 USA

Phone: (415) 981-1771

Fax: (415) 981-1991

Email: panna

Web: http://www.panna.org

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