Hunger Protests in Boston mark the 25^th Anniversary of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy

Today, over 15 students from the Greater Boston and supporters from the local community in Boston assembled in Copley Square to join the global hunger protest that was being held in different cities around the world to urge Dow Chemical and the Indian Government to take immediate measures to stop the ongoing chemical disaster in Bhopal.

“This is the first time I am fasting and I feel good about it, that my little action here could change something for the suffering poor in Bhopal”, said PremNandhini, a researcher at Harvard. Volunteers had people sign petitions to urge Dow Chemical to take responsibility to clean up the toxic site in Bhopal. Dow Chemical is the current owner of Union Carbide that faces two criminal charges in the India. “I know chemicals can harm plants and earth,” said Daniel, a third grader who wanted to sign the petition along with his mother.

At 2:00 p.m. six volunteers took part in a die-in to remember the 23,000 people who were killed. Leonid Chindelevitch and Srikant Sarangi, graduate students at MIT and Boston University, performed a song called “Alive” which they wrote and composed to honor the victims and support the survivors of Bhopal. A candlelight vigil at 5:30 pm in the evening and a minute of silence was observed to remember the victims of the tragedy. Mona, a mother of a two-year old child reflected, “we all live in Bhopal, with the chemicals that we are exposed to in our food and surroundings.” The volunteers chanted different slogans such as “Dow, Dow, Clean Up Now” and “Justice for Bhopal is Justice for All.”

On the midnight of December 3^rd, 1984 forty tons of methyl-isocyanide gas leaked from the Union Carbide’s factory in Bhopal, India, that exposed half a million people to the deadly gas and killed 23,000 people. Today, with the toxic dump site not cleaned up people in Bhopal are drinking the most toxic water. Recent published reports from accredited labs in Switzerland and UK found 15 highly toxic chemicals in the groundwater of Bhopal that greatly exceeds the safe levels recommended by WHO. The report also states that most of these chemicals could be neurotoxic and damage the brain and organs in the body. The incidence of children born with congenital birth defects and the incidence of cancer in elderly people are reported to be extremely high in Bhopal.

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