Paths to a Green World by Jennifer Clapp & Peter Dauvergne

Author:Jennifer Clapp & Peter Dauvergne [Clapp, Jennifer & Dauvergne, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-02-17T05:00:00+00:00

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Chapter 6

Social greens and bioenvironmentalists are concerned about the rise in the share of highly polluting industry in developing countries, and accuse TNCs of following what they call “double standards”—that is, when a firm applies one set of standards in their operations in one country, and a different set of standards in another.34 Usually this means more lax standards are applied in TNC operations in developing countries, while higher standards for the same production processes are adhered to in the home country. Several UN studies have confirmed that TNCs operating in developing countries conform to standards lower than home-country standards.35 As mentioned earlier, market liberals do not deny that this occurs—they just argue that this is still a better situation than following host-country standards. Social greens in particular see this practice as unjust, exploitative, and dangerous.

Social greens highlight the case of the American TNC Union Carbide in Bhopal, India, the site of the worst industrial accident in history, as a clear case of double standards and environmental injustice.36 The Carbide Bhopal plant produced pesticides. Union Carbide owned 51

percent; the Indian government owned the rest. Many claim that Union Carbide was aware in the early 1980s that this factory had much more lax environmental, health, and safety standards than a similar pesticide plant owned by the same company in West Virginia (which produced the identical pesticide).37 Little was done to upgrade the Indian plant. Then, in the middle of the night on December 4, 1984, there was a leak of poisonous gas at the Bhopal plant that spread over the town. Eight thousand people were instantly killed, and several hundred thousand more were injured.38 Union Carbide blamed the tragedy on the Indian government for not conducting better checks on the plant, and argued that sabotage likely caused the accident. But critics blamed it on the negli-gence of Union Carbide, arguing that it was not an accident but rather a “disaster waiting to happen.”39 The company was taken to court and was forced to pay compensation to many of the victims, though many others received nothing for their suffering and those that were given funds only received a small settlement.40 Union Carbide pulled out of India 10 years later, and the company was recently bought out by Dow Chemical. An investigation by the New Scientist Magazine claims the U.S. headquarters was responsible for the plant’s design, and that Union Carbide had scaled back its investment in safety technologies at Bhopal in the early 1980s.41

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