NGOs call for global ban on toxic pesticides
Non-governmental organisations in seven countries, including Malaysia, today called for a worldwide ban on pesticides in conjunction with the 18th anniversary of the Bhopal tragedy.
Today is the 'No Pesticides Use Day' launched in1988 by a regional group known as the Pesticide Action Network, Asia and the Pacific (PAN-AP) to commemorate the tragedy four years earlier.
On Dec 3, 1984, thousands of people were killed when a lethal cloud of methyl isocyanate (an extremely toxic chemical used to produce Sevin a potent pesticide at the time) leaked from a manufacturing plant owned by Union Carbide Corporation in Bhopal, India.
NGOs around the globe said the incident exposed the negligence and culpability of transnational corporations.
The United States-based Union Carbide eventually paid US$470 million in compensation for the victims in 1989.
In a press statement yesterday, PAN-AP said it has organised several activities to increase public awareness about the dangers of pesticides.
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