In 1984, thousands of people in Bhopal, India, were killed by the effects of a cyanide leak from a U.S.-owned pesticide plant. The plant owner, Union Carbide Corp., was bought by Dow Chemical in 2001; since then, Dow has evaded responsibility for cleaning up the more than 9,000 tons of chemicals still affecting soil and water near the site. The company has now offered to pay part of the cleanup cost — in return for being freed of legal liability. “Dow’s offer confronts the Indian government with a critical choice,” says an Indian activist. “Either it collaborates and cuts a deal with a multinational corporation in a mercenary fashion; or it sides with the victims, who have been affected by chemicals leaching from the industrial waste.” Anybody want to make a bet on that one?
