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Organize a Call-in Day! Set up a table in your campus crossroads and organize a mass call-in or fax-in to the Indian Embassy in Washington, DC. Ask for the Ambassador or a senior official, and tell them to comply with ICJB’s demands.

	Demand Safe Drinking Water		Demand Extradition
	Demand a National Commission		Resources

Demand Safe Drinking Water

Comply with the May, 2004 order of the Indian Supreme Court and supply safe drinking water through Kolar Pipeline in communities affected by Union Carbide’s contamination.

Talking Points:
a) The Madhya Pradesh (MP) Government has failed to implement a May 2004 Supreme Court directive instructing it to provide clean piped water to the 14 communities currently forced to consume water contaminated with poisons from Union Carbide’s abandoned factory.

b) The whole affair reeks of yet another scam at the expense of the Bhopal victims. While the Government claims to be supplying 360,000 litres of water per day, itself a fraction of the need for 881,500 liters/day, the actual supply in February 2005 was a little over 125,000 litres per day - just 14% of the daily water requirement, according to data collected by the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal.

A few of the contaminants found in a typical glass of Bhopal drinking water.

c) Mercury, chlorobenzenes and naphthalene are some of the deadly chemicals that were found at dangerous levels in the groundwater. Nearly 20,000 people, including gas victims and people who moved into the area after the disaster, are currently drinking this water because the Madhya Pradesh Government has failed to provide them with clean water. Already, reports indicate that the contamination may be causing an increased incidence of abdominal pain, giddiness, anemia, growth retardation among children, birth defects and skin problems among the 20,000 people exposed to the poisoned water.

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Demand a National Commission

Set up a National Commission on Bhopal with the authority to design, fund and implement initiatives in medical, economic, social and environmental rehabilitation.

Talking Points:
a) Twenty years after the disaster, the people of Bhopal continue to suffer. Between 120,000 to 150,000 survivors of the December '84 disaster are chronically ill, and on average one gas victim dies from their injuries every day. Medical treatment and research have been inadequate; official studies have been prematurely terminated and there is currently no monitoring of the alarming rise in the incidence of cancers, tuberculosis and diseases caused by contaminated water. Over 50,000 survivors currently unable to work owing to exposure-related illnesses, and this has created a dramatic drop in the economic condition of tens of thousands of families. Over 20,000 residents of Bhopal are forced to drink water contaminated with toxic chemicals that Union Carbide left behind, and which have never been cleaned up. Even worse, tests have shown that breast milk of mothers in these communities carry toxic chemicals and heavy metals in high concentrations.

b) Government relief and rehabilitation schemes have been a failure. Official figures indicate that more than Rs. 400 crores (or US $90 million) have been spent since the December '84 Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal. Despite this, the system of health care is plagued with little or no applicable research or treatment guidelines, and the lack of a system of registration means that the government health care is often part of the problem. Gainful employment has only been provided to less than 200 persons. And the living environment of the survivors continues to deteriorate.

c) A National Commission would have the necessary authority and resources for carrying out the work of rebuilding in Bhopal for the next 50 years in a transparent and responsible way. It would improve the health condition of the survivors of the December '84 Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal and their next generation through initiatives in health care, research and monitoring and in economic, social and environmental rehabilitation. And it would be model for effective, information based, people-participatory response to industrial disasters.

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Demand Extradition

Take immediate steps to send an amended request for extradition of Warren Anderson and for extradition of the authorized representative of the Union Carbide Corporation.

Talking Points:
a) In the wake of the disaster, Carbide’s CEO Warren Anderson flew to Bhopal as a PR stunt. There he was placed under house arrest and charged by the Indian authorities with "culpable homicide" (manslaughter). Although Anderson was later released on bond and allowed to leave the country, he promised to return to face any criminal proceedings. He did not.

b) After Anderson ignored multiple summons to appear for trial, including one published in the Washington Post (January 1st, 1992), the Indian Government issued an arrest warrant, circulated through Interpol. Anderson then went into hiding.

The Summons for Carbide	The Summons for Anderson

c) In 2002, Anderson was discovered living a life of luxury in the Hamptons, an exclusive beach resort not far from New York. In May of 2003, the Indian Government requested his extradition, but the request was rejected in July of 2004 by the US Government. Anderson is still considered an “absconder” (fugitive from justice) by the Indian Government. If extradited and convicted of the deaths of 20,000 Bhopalis, Anderson faces ten years in prison.

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Resources

..........• Handouts and fact sheets about Bhopal
..........• Bhopal Posters
..........• Draft advertising poster
..........• Draft Bhopal Quartersheets: One & Two
..........• Need a cheap phone card?

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