Union Carbide

BBC admits Dow 'interview' was a hoax
Man posing as spokesman said firm accepted Bhopal responsibility

Updated: 1:02 p.m. ET Dec. 3, 2004
LONDON - BBC World said on Friday that an interview it ran with a man it identified as a spokesman for Dow Chemical Co, in which he said the U.S. company accepted responsibility for India's Bhopal disaster, was wrong and part of an "elaborate deception".


The story is kind of amazing. The hoax is truer than the reality, which is that Union Carbide (later purchased by Dow) never admitted their responsibility for the tragic accident and always maintained that a rogue employee purposely caused it. They settled for about half a billion dollars with the community but never bothered to spend the thirty million needed to clean up the plant, which is still leaching dangerous chemicals and causing disease and birth defects.