India not to boycott Olympics but will protest against Dow

New Delhi : The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) today decided not to boycott the 2012 London Olympics but it will lodge a strong protest with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) over Dow Chemicals sponsoring the mega sports event.

The victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy have been demanding that India should skip the Olympics due to the involvement of Dow Chemicals, which bought the tainted Union Carbide blamed for the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy.

The leakage of tonnes of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas on the night of Dec 2-3, 1984, from the Union Carbide’s pesticides plant killed several thousand people besides affecting hundreds of thousands of people. Government records show 5,295 deaths, besides 4,902 with permanent disability, 35,455 with temporary disability and 527,894 with minor injuries. Union Carbide was later bought by Dow Chemicals.

The sports ministry, in a letter yesterday, asked the IOA to raise a strong protest with the IOC over the issue of Dow’s association with the Olympic movement.

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