Dow disclaims all liability for Bhopal disaster

While the government seeks ways to implicate Dow Chemical in the Bhopal gas disaster caused by the erstwhile Union Carbide, the US company says efforts to tie Dow to the disaster were "misdirected".

Dow bought Union Carbide in 1999. In 1984, Union Carbide India Ltd, a 51 per cent-owned Indian unit of the company, was responsible for the catastrophic gas leak that killed thousands instantly and tens of thousands over the following years.

Union Carbide struck a 470-million-dollar out-of-court settlement with the Indian government in 1989, which absolved it of further responsibility for the medical costs or clean-up of the polluted site.

"There are some who continue to try to affix responsibility for the Bhopal tragedy to Dow, but the fact is that Dow never owned, operated, nor inherited the facility in Bhopal," company spokesman Scot Wheeler said in an email to AFP on Monday.

He said efforts to attach responsibility to Dow "are misdirected" given that Union Carbide had sold its Indian unit at the time of its takeover by Dow.

"We do have sympathy for the plight of those who are victims of the tragedy and its aftermath and we would all agree that their issues do need to be addressed," Wheeler added. "The solution to this problem, however, rests in the hands of the Indian central and state governments."