India Not To boycotting London Olympics, But Wants Dow Dropped

By P. Vijian NEW DELHI, Dec 16 (Bernama) -- Indian athletes will not boycott the 2012 London Olympics, but the national sports body will demand that its organisers drop Dow Chemicals, one of the Games' sponsors. The decision not to pull of the games came after Indian Olympic Association (IOA) officials met in Delhi on Thursday. "The Olympic Games showcases the best of human endeavour, sporting spirit and camaraderie and to have Dow Chemicals, even as one of the sponsors, negates all these lofty values," V.K. Malhotra, IOA acting president said in Delhi. Veteran athletes and victims of the Bhopal gas leak tragedy urged India to boycott the prestigious games, as Dow, was linked to the country's 1984 industrial disaster. The horrendous gas leak happened at Union Carbide's pesticide plant in Bhopal in Madya Pradesh. In 1999 Dow bought over the company. Nearly 25,000 people died in India's central state following the gas leak and about 100,000 villagers exposed to toxic gas still suffer from blindness and physical deformity. Union Carbide paid off US$470 million (RM1.5 billion) as settlement, but rights activists and survivors demand US$1 billion (RM3.1 billion) more to compensate human suffering and to address the environmental impact in Bhopal. Dow is the sponsor of a decorative wrap in the London Olympic Stadium worth nearly seven million British pounds (RM34 million). -- BERNAMA