LOCOG stands by Dow Chemical despite criticism – London Olympics 2012
The London Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games has recently given a statement in which it has reiterated its stance of keeping its partnership with the Dow Chemical company for the upcoming London 2012 Olympic Games.
The announcement has been made by LOCOG after the resignation given in by Meredith Alexander, who was the former member of the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012.
The Dow Chemical company was responsible for one of the most disastrous industrial incidents in history that took place in the year 1984 in the Indian city of Bhopal. There was a gas leakage in one of the Dow factories that spread to the city and caused
the immediate deaths of several hundred local residents in the region.
Not only that, the effects of the gas leak were far reaching as the local residents experienced many physical problems after wards including birth defects and the deaths continued to occur for quite some time.
In compensation, the Dow Chemical paid s sum of money to the people of the Bhopal but the government of India as well as the local residents have been demanding an additional sum based on the reason that the liability paid to the affected people was insignificant
compared to the disaster that took place.
As a result, the association of the London 2012 Olympic Games with Dow Chemical has been criticised by many quarters. Dow is one of the official sponsors of the Games and will be responsible for the cloth wrap that would be encircling the main stadium during
the Games.
Paul Deighton, who is the chief executive officer of the London 2012 Olympic Games, expressed himself in the following manner on the matter at hand, “It is absolutely her right to make her point about how she feels about the victims of Bhopal. We fully respect
her. She is one of 12 people who signed off on our process for choosing Dow to provide the wrap – so we carry on. It is absolutely her right to resign. She is one of 12 members of that sustainability commission who signed off on the way we approached awarding
the wrap to Dow.”
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