Dow Chemical Reacts to IOA's Boycott Decision

(ATR) A spokesperson for Dow Chemical tells Around the Rings that the Indian Olympic Association’s decision not to boycott the London Olympics "is the sensible and right response."

IOA acting president Vijay Kumar Malhotra told Reuters on Monday that his National Olympic Committee does not plan to boycott the Games despite a petition from Indian athletes to do so.

The athletes and human rights groups are protesting Dow’s Olympic sponsorship over an industrial disaster in Bhopal, India that has been linked to the company.

In 1984, a pesticide plant owned by Union Carbide leaked toxins into the city of Bhopal. According to the Indian government, around 3,000 people were killed in the following days and 15,000 died subsequently.

At the time, Union Carbide India Limited owned and operated the plant. In 2001, Dow Chemical bought Union Carbide Corporation.

Spokesperson Scot Wheeler argues that Dow Chemical is not responsible for the incident.

"Despite certain interest groups’ claims, the facts are that Dow did not and does not have any connection to the tragedy or its aftermath," he said in an email to ATR.

"We are proud to be a Worldwide Olympic Partner with the IOC and more than 200 National Olympic Committees around the globe, including LOCOG.We are pleased to have this opportunity and remain committed to applying our capabilities to help deliver a successful London 2012."

Ken Livingstone, mayor of London when the city won the Games, said continuing Dow’s sponsorship creates "a potential crisis of legitimacy for the Games."

"Dealing with industrial contamination was the first necessary task to transform the Olympic Park from a derelict polluted wasteland into thelargest urban park in Europe. It would undermine London 2012 to take money from a sponsor that refused to clean up its own subsidiary's mess."

"Our objective should be an Olympics that is good for London, not a them-and-us Games.

"The soul of the London Games is worth much more than 0.08% of its budget. It would be far better to do this than to allow Dow Chemicals to exploit an opportunity that has been paid for by people in London and across the whole country."

Livingstone, a candidate in next year’s London mayoral election against incumbent Boris Johnson, added that Dow has a "moral responsibility" to rectify damages in the Bhopal disaster.

Tessa Jowell, former Olympics minister for the UK, has also criticized Dow’s sponsorship.

Jowell is travelling to India for charity work, and media reports say she will seek out meetings with Indian Olympic officials to discuss ways of seeking restitution for those impacted by the tragedy.

She is also a top official with Livingstone’s campaign and is seeking more information about how Dow was awarded its TOP sponsorship.

A report in London’s The Guardian says council members in Tower Hamlets, one of the five host boroughs of the Games, are proposing that the borough join in opposition to Dow’s sponsorship. The motion is "likely to pass", according to the report.

Written by Ann Cantrell.

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