International Olympic Association speaks out against Dow once again – London Olympics 2012
After a significant period of silence, the Indian Olympic Association has recently restarted its efforts to persuade the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games to drop its partnership with the Dow Chemical company.
The revival of the Indian effort in this cause was triggered by the resignation of Meredith Alexander, who was one of the 12 members of the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012 watchdog.
The uproar that has been heard since the time the American firm Dow Chemical became one of the official sponsor of the London 2012 Olympic Games.
The reason that the demand has been made from the LOCOG to drop the partnership with the American firm is that it is linked with one of the worst industrial disasters in history which took place in the year 1984 in the Indian city of Bhopal.
One of the factories of Dow Chemicals, Union Carbide, which the company bought in the year 1999 was responsible for a gas leak that took place in Bhopal and caused the immediate death of several hundred local residents that were present in the vicinity of
the factory.
The after effects of the incident were far reaching as the local residents continued to be affected for many years afterwards in the form of physical defects such as birth deformities which also led to several deaths.
The chief of the IOA, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, expressed his views to the International Olympic Committee by making the following statements in a letter that is his second one to the IOC, “I am sure that you are well aware of the growing opposition to this
sponsorship the world over with NGOs (non-governmental organisations), intellectuals like Noam Chomsky, Members of British Parliament and civil society openly coming out against it. On behalf of the IOA I again urge you to take steps to remove Dow as sponsor
and settle the matter as early as possible.”
The Dow Chemical company has been contracted to provide a cloth wrap for the London 2012 Olympic Games which will be seen wrapped around one of the main Olympic Games stadiums.
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