6/1 Union Carbide

     Today we explained Steven Donziger to people who didn't have a lesson about him. We got in pairs and explained the main points. Then, Mr Paterson told us about the Bhopal toxic gas accident caused by Union Carbide in 1984. This case is similar to Chevron. Big American companies are polluting the environment in developing countries and didn't take responsibility. Union Carbide, a big company that batteries founded Union Carbide India Limited to produce batteries at a cheaper cost. Union Carbide didn't take safety measures, and that caused toxic gas to leak out into the nearby houses and killed more than 20000 people (differs depending on the source). India sued Union Carbide and requested compensation, but Union Carbide said that the disaster was caused by Union Carbide India Limited, so it only has limited responsibility. However, Union Carbide India Limited was a subsidiary of Union Carbide. The survivors of the disaster are still requesting compensation to Union Carbide, and the problem still continues now.

    I was shocked that so many people were killed in this disaster. If there was an accident that killed more than 20000 people in Japan, it would be considered a historical disaster. When I researched topics about the Bhopal disaster on the Washington Post website, the article stated that more than 2000 people died in two weeks. Unlike the incident of Steven Donziger, the big American media told the damage of the disaster, but the values were smaller than actual total deaths. What is more important is the total deaths and also injuries, but the big American media didn't cover this.

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