Published December 4, 2002 in the Midland (MI) Daily News

By Beth Medley Bellor

A small group of people hoping The Dow Chemical Co. will clean up contamination in Bhopal, India, got the audience they sought Tuesday night.

About nine people showed up outside the Midland home of Michael Parker, president and chief executive officer of Dow, around 9 p.m. for a candlelight vigil.

“Mike greeted them and spent 10 minutes talking with them, and then they left,” said John Musser, Dow spokesman. He estimated the group was there for half an hour.

“Essentially it was going over ground that we’’ve gone over before,” with the group suggesting Dow bears legal responsibility because of the merger transaction with Union Carbide.

“Mike reiterated the point that this simply wasn’’t accurate,” Musser said. First, he said, the company believes Union Carbide’’s legal and moral responsibilities were dealt with according to the laws and agreement with the government of India.

“Secondly, that we are quite confident in our position that in any event, Dow Chemical does not have any liability with respect to the Bhopal tragedy or the site in any sense,” Musser said.

Tuesday was the 18th anniversary of the worst industrial accident in history, a chemical explosion at a plant operated and half-owned by Union Carbide India Limited. Thousands died or were permanently disabled.

Since Dow purchased Union Carbide and made it a wholly owned subsidiary, activists have sought to transfer responsibility for cleanup of the site, now owned by the Indian government.