Dow Chemical - Tower Hamlets Mayor Statement

The Vietnam war memorial is 492 feet long. If a similar memorial had been made for the Vietnamese who died, it would be nine miles long.

(LONDON) - Len Aldis, the internationally respected Agent Orange Activist and Chair of the Tower Hamlets CND has released the attached letter from the Mayor of Tower Hamlets regarding the London Olympics.

Len has been instrumental in organising worldwide condemnation of Dow Chemical involvement with the London games, in particular the wrapping the Olympic stadium in the Dow brand.

The Dow public relations machine is working 24/7 to portray Dow as the friendly face of the Olympics when in fact the name Dow is synonymous with Vietnamese being burned to death by Dow's NAPALM and the millions Vietnamese suffering from Agent Orange into the fourth generation.

Thank you DOW! The world will never forget your participation in the American War in Vietnam. Mass Murder if your legacy!

‘We sure are pleased with those backroom boys at Dow. The original product wasn’t so hot - if the gooks were quick they could scrape it off. So the boys started adding polystyrene - now it sticks like shit to a blanket. But if the gooks jumped under water it stopped burning, so they started adding Willie Peter (white phosphorous ) so’s to make it burn better. And just one drop is enough, it’ll keep on burning right down to the bone so they die anyway from phosphorus

As the International Olympic Committee is aware, Article 2 of the Charter is “to encourage and support measures protecting the health of athletes.” How is this possible when Dow Chemical has been responsible for the following:

*Is named the second worst polluter by the American Environmental Protection Agency for emissions of toxic substances for 2010.

*operates the former nuclear weapons manufacturing plant (made triggers for nuclear bombs) between 1951-1975. During Dow Chemical’s management of the plant more than 200 fires occurred, contaminating up to 300 workers. Dow Chemical officials later acknowledged that they routinely released plutonium illegally.

*invents TCE, a solvent, later linked to cancer and ozone depletion.

*produces DBCP, a pesticide. Reports only circulated within the company reveal DBCP to be absorbed through the skin and highly toxic when inhaled.

*produces napalm, a chemical explosive and Agent Orange, a toxic defoliant used by the American government during the Vietnam War.

*tests Dursban at a lab in Nebraska that targeted University of Nebraska students to participate in the study. DowElanco was later fined $890,000 (a record fine at the time) for withholding information and documents pertaining to Dursban’s safety. Dursban was forced off the market in 2004.

*launches insecticide Lorsban which is revealed to have safety issues.

*releases chlorine at its Stade, Germany facility and fails to inform the public about the hazards.

*the American Chemical Society finds that chemical companies had purposely withheld information linking vinyl chloride (of which Dow Chemical is a major producer) with angiosarcoma (liver cancer).

*stalls the clean up of dioxins in Midland, Michigan where dioxin contamination is amongst the highest in American for more than 35 years.

*found to have secret life insurance on 20,000 of their own employees, whereby Dow Chemical would collect death benefits if their workers died. The practice is illegal in most states.

*paid a Univeristy of Pennsylvania dermatologist to test dioxin on prisoners at Holmerburg prison.

*spills about 8,000 gallons of “perc” (used by professional dry cleaners) into the St. Clair River.

*burned 28 tons of toxic chemicals a day at its Sarnia, ON facility.

*found negligent of testing, making, selling and distribution of Benedectin (morning sickness drug) by a jury.

*fined $1.1 million for violating the Toxic Substances Control Act.

*regularly sued or fined by federal and state agencies for non compliance in the 1990s.

*sued for unlawfully discharging chlorinated solvents into the groundwater and the San Francisco Bay.

*Louisiana court finds Dow Chemical negligent in testing silicone breast implants, for lying about the possible risks and conspiring with their subsidiary Dow Corning.

*Dupont-Dow Elastomers plant in Louisiana ranked one of the worst and dirtiest facilities in the US, emitting about 540,000 pounds of recognized carcinogens (substances that cause cancer) in 1999.

*Dow Chemical’s American and Canadian facilities record 1,337 toxic leaks, spills and breaks in 2001.

*lobbies against provisions in the Chemical Security Act, which would have required safer methods to minimize and eliminate hazardous risks at chemical plants.

*hires Otto Ambros, a chemist and convicted war criminal (for slavery and mass murder). During World War II Ambros was the director of I.G. Farben, that owned a company that produced Zyklon B, the gas used to kill millions of Jews. Ambros was one of the decision makers who agreed that Zyklon B should be used in the concentration camps.

*DowAgroscience fined 2 million dollars for false advertising in 2003. They claimed Dursban did not endanger human health or cause long term health effects.

*challenges the Quebec government’s ban on its herbicide 2,4-D in 2008. The Quebec government wanted to impose a ban after studies linked it to cancer. Dow Chemical uses NAFTA to stop the ban.

This is only an abbreviated list of Dow Chemical’s health violations.

Through the IOC’s decision of accepting, defending and even celebrating Dow Chemical’s inclusion into the Olympic movement, athletes are now directly linked to a company that clearly does not display, nor respects the aims of Olympism.

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