The Hindu : Opinion / Letters to the Editor : Bhopal gas victims

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Wednesday, Apr 23, 2008
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Opinion - Letters to the Editor

Bhopal gas victims

The Hindu needs to be complimented for highlighting the issue of the Bhopal gas victims (article “It is bad science to keep information back,” April 22). It is a very serious matter, and indeed a matter of shame, that even after 23 years of the tragedy, the affected people are fighting even for information. I have been watching with dismay the travails of the people who marched from Bhopal to Delhi and continue to camp at the Jantar Mantar just to catch the attention of the world while the 24x7 media are busy with other issues.

The Sambhavana Trust and the Bhopal Group for Information and Action need all the help to force the government to set up an empowered commission on Bhopal for medical research. I appeal to the media to do more to highlight the cause of these people, who are slowly being pushed into the zone of collective forgetfulness for which our countrymen are famous.

K.S. Vasudevan,

Chennai

The article highlights one of the most worrying trends in today’s corporate dominated world — “corporate epidemiology.” It has been well established the world over that corporate money and muscle power have subverted science to serve their interests. In India too, there have been numerous examples of corporate bullying of scientists who are doing research on issues directly impacting on the lives of common people. When scientists do go ahead and publish their findings, they are slapped with defamation and criminal suits. This trend needs to be urgently responded to for the good of the country.

Rakhal Gaitonde,

Kancheepuram

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