As you read this, a stockholders’ meeting is about to begin today in Cologne, Germany, during which health activists will be filing a countermotion protesting against the management of a multinational manufacturer of pesticides, which, they say, is endangering the health and safety of humans living around the factory. The countermotion is asking for the dismantling of stockpiles of toxic and harmful pesticides that have already leaked thrice in recent years and caused panic. The countermotion is of interest to us because the activists’ concern is over a pesticide factory that is described as a “sister plant” to the one in Bhopal that saw the world’s worst industrial accident in 1984.
This manufacturing unit which is in West Virginia in the US, belonged to Union Carbide (which owned the Bhopal factory) and was bought over (just as the Bhopal factory was). It stores MIC, the poisonous gas that killed around 20,000 in Bhopal, and Thiodicarb, a chemical that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has categorised as “extremely toxic” and a carcinogen (causing cancer). Activists spearheading the countermotion point out that MIC is dangerous in concentrations less than what humans can detect through smell.
The US factory had accidents in 1985 and 1994, following which OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Authority) slapped a fine of 1.7 million dollars on the manufacturer for violation of safety regulations. A subsequent leak in 1996 is reported to have caused panic in thousands of residents of the area. However, unlike in India, the American Right to Know law mandates that information about what is stored, etc should be made accessible to the public.
Last December, seven drums storing the toxic chemicals burst. The countermotion is born of public concern over the repeated violations of safety norms in storing a chemical that is banned in the European Union. The activists’ group has not only put all these details on its website but provided clear guidelines on what citizens can do to support the countermotion, who to send e-mails to, etc. All it takes, for consumers to show support, is one small click on the appropriate link.
Now compare this to what is happening with the Bhopal victims and survivors. They marched all the way to Delhi last month, to hold a “die-in” protest at India Gate, to remind the prime minister that he had promised appropriate action last year, to seek justice to the victims of the 1984 accident. The protestors got arrested, and were released only after criticism and condemnation of the arrests from different quarters.
We too, have internet now, despite being a poor country, and we too can now mobilise through the use of technology that facilitates mass awareness and networking. And yet, our activists’ groups have not adopted dissemination techniques on lines similar to those that overseas groups use. There is, indeed, a website for the Bhopal event, but in general consumer groups do not put out simple and clear instructions that could enable interested citizens to just click to show support.
Most of the time, even among those who are concerned about safety and other issues, there is lack of awareness on who to write to, where to add the weight of one’s support, even if they have internet access. With the result that even the little bit of popular support that consumer issues could garner, gets diluted through lack of mass backing. What a shame, especially in a country that has a population strength four and a half times that of the US!
Our country is very quick to adopt and import the latest in everything, from fashion to fast foods to chemicals and ‘miracle’ drugs — but not so quick in keeping abreast of information that lists all the pros and cons. Multinational companies that want to sell to us (because we are seen as a huge market, with potential for massive profits to the manufacturer) are, naturally, not so keen to publicise the ‘cons’, they are only interested in giving one side of the picture, the side that would boost sales. There is proof also, of manufacturers suppressing or delaying test reports (on pesticides, drugs) that warn about possible side effects or long term harm.
Only persistent activists can unearth the truth in such cases. By then, often, irreversible harm has been done, while the seller has raked in his profits in millions and pushed off. As in Bhopal, it is often very difficult to bring the culprit to book. Thanks to the kind of lopsided development that we have adopted, we do not have in place the kind of penal provisions and legal mechanisms that would help in getting justice, even if it is just one single consumer who suffered harm due to a faulty or unsafe product.
In Bhopal, the number of victims runs to several thousands. This kind of “poverty” — typified not by money incomes, but by helplessness in terms of citizens’ unequal clout vis-à-vis behemoth multinationals that can pour billions into finding loopholes to escape accountability — is what should be bothering us, far more than the kind of economic poverty that prevents millions of our citizens from ‘enjoying’ pizza at five star eateries.
