20 Years of Environmental Racism

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Black & Green WED: Bhopal: 20 Years of Environmental Racixm
When 7:00pm, Wednesday 1 December

Contact: Gateway Green Alliance 314-727-8554
www.gateway-greens.org

Where: Genesis House, 6018 Delmar, east of Skinker

Transport: Across the street from Delmar Station (Metrolink stop)

Background:
December 3 is the 20th anniversary of the gas leak which was the worst industrial disaster in human history. There will be activities in India throughout that week to protest the contempt with which the US has treated Bhopal. victims. December 3 is the 20th anniversary of the gas leak which was the worst industrial disaster in human history. There will be activities in India throughout that week to protest the contempt with which the US has treated Bhopal victims. The December 1 program will be in solidarity with Bhopal, in recognition that the same sort of disaster could happen in St. Louis. Held at Genesis House, 6018 Delmar, the forum will feature:

* Nishant Jain, Association for India's Development.

* Lee Blount, Jr. M.D., Health & Environmental Justice

* Zaki Baruti, Green Party of St. Louis, Universal African People's Organization [moderator]

On the nights of December 2 & 3, 1984, more than 27 tons of methyl isocyanate and other deadly gases were released from Union Carbide's pesticide factory in Bhopal. The plant's safety systems were poorly designed, and on the night of the disaster all six of them were either malfunctioning or under repair. The
gas spread throughout many of the crowded, working-class neighborhoods of Bhopal.

Approximately half a million people were exposed to the gas and at least 20,000 died as a result. Among the 150,000 estimated to be suffering serious
long-term health effects from exposure, at least 50,000 are too sick to work for a living. Recent studies have established health effects among children born to gas-affected people, confirming fears of trans-generational effects of the poison gases.

Thousands of tons of toxic wastes abandoned by Union Carbide in and around their Bhopal factory continue to contaminate the environment and leach poisons
and cancer-causing chemicals into the groundwater sources supplying a community of 20,000 people.

In 2001, Michigan-based chemical corporation Dow Chemical purchased Union Carbide, thereby acquiring its assets and liabilities. However Dow Chemical has
steadfastly refused to clean up the site, provide safe drinking water, compensate the victims, or disclose information about the health effects of the leaked
gases, which doctors could use to properly treat the victims.

Twenty years later, the chemical industry is just as dangerous as it was at the time of the Bhopal disaster. Despite existing laws and regulations, in the United States alone, there are more than 110 chemical factories that could kill a million people in the event of an accident or a terrorist attack.

Sponsored by the Gateway Green Alliance and the Universal African People's Organization.