The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, December 12, 1984, Image 6

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    s
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Page 6/The Battalion/Wednesday, December 12, 1984
Few industries relocate
to avoid U.S. safety laws
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Union Car
bide’s plant in Bhopal, India, was
modeled after its facility in Institute,
W.Va. — with a few exceptions: it
had no computerized monitoring
system or emergency evacuation
plan.
Last week’s escape of deadly gas
from the pesticide plant, the worst
industrial disaster in history, at last
count had killed more than 2,250
persons, many as they slept.
The tragedy resurrected an old
and troubling question — do Ameri
can industries go abroad to escape
U.S. safety laws and surveillance,
considered the toughest in the
world?
Some critics contend that once
many firms go abroad, even if they
voluntarily impose the same regula
tions required in the United Stales,
they do not have the pressure from
government and communities to put
safety ahead of profits.
Barry Castleman, an environmen
tal consultant who has written exten
sively on the subject, said, “What I
have found is that American busi
nesses go abroad primarily for busi
ness reasons — to get near a market,
supplies, labor.”
“Once in operation, however, lo
cal management is concerned about
profits — not safety,” he said. “Par
ticularly in Third World countries,
there are no unions pushing safety.
And there are no communities de
manding to know what is being pro
duced and how is it being pro
duced.” They also may have less
than top-notch personnel.
Earlier this year, the Conservation
Foundation, a non-profit research
g roup based in Washington, con-
ucted a study, “Are Environmental
Regulations Driving U.S. Industry
Overseas?”
It found “no significant examples
of industrial flight from pollution or
workplace healtn standards in indus
tries where product demand is ex
panding and U.S. producers enjoy
technological superiority.”
But it concluded there appear to
be a small number of chemical and
metal industries that have crossed
the border, often to South America
and Third World countries, in
search of more favorable laws.
It cited three examples in partic
ular:
—Producers of some toxic, dan
gerous or carcinogenic substances,
such as asbestos, benzidine dyes and
Doctors at Indian
hospital walkout
United Press International
NEW DELHI, India — Doc
tors at the largest hospital in Bho
pal walked off the job in a wildcat
strike Tuesday and left victims of
history’s worst chemical disaster
without medical treatment, the
Press Trust of India said.
It was not known how many
gas victims remained in the Ham-
idia hospital, but P IT said at least
30,000 already had been treated
there — the largest number of
victims of the Dec. 3 leak treated
at any single facility.
The disaster occurred when a
cloud of methyl isocyanate
spewed from the Union Carbide
pesticide plant on the outskirts of
the city on Dec. 3, some 360 miles
south of New Delhi, leaving at
least 2,250 people dead and
200,000 injured.
The strike began at 3 p.m.
when a municipal official slapped
one of the doctors on duty, P IT
said, quoting N. R. Bandari, med
ical superintendant for the re-
gion.
“Only student doctors have put
up some tables outside the hospi
tal and are attending the gas vic
tims,” Bandari said.
Meanwhile scientists studied
how to dispose of more than 30
tons of deadly gas still on the acci
dent site.
P IT quoted officials saying tl> e
disposal was critical “as any fell-
ure might lead to another acci
dent.”
But Dr. S. Varadarajan, head
ing a team of experts who will
carry out the task, promised they
would “neutralize" the methyl
isocyanate at “zero risk" to the
800,000 people of Bhopal.
The operation is no cause‘fe r
panic and there is no reason to
evacuate the city,” he announced.
Immediately after the chief min
ister’s remarks were released, the
government announced without
explanation that all schools and
colleges in Bhopal would he
closed until Dec. 23.
The Press Trust reported “de
spite the government assurances
... people have started sending
then - family members, especially,
women children and old people
out of Bhopal.”
A “leading medical authority
told the news agency that re
searchers f rom chemical warfare
laboratories in the United States,
Britain, Canada and West Ger
many were also pouring into
Bhopal.
a few pesticides, “where firms have
been unable to develop safer substi
tutes or meet (U.S.) environmental
or workplace” rules.
—Mineral processors of copper,
zinc and lead “where environmental
factors have combined with locatio
nal incentives and with economic
problems to speed the dispersion of
the industry internationally.”
—Some companies producing a
few chemical intermedicLtes — com
binations of chemicals needed for
the manufacture of certain end
products — where capacity has
moved abroad in part oecause of
pollution and workplace health stan
dards. The methyl istKyanatc re
leased from the Bhopal plant is i
chemical intermediate more poison
ous than either of its coniponenli,
but it is also used at factories in int
United States.
Union Carbide, a multi-billion-
dollar conglomerate headquartered
in Danbury, Conn., manufacture
products ranging from battenesio
antifreeze. It has more than
plants, about 300 of them overseas,
including 14 in India.
Union Carbide officials say the
“state-of-the-art” Bhopal pfe" 1 ™
built a decade ago and modeled at
ter its facility in Institute, W.Va.
U.S. Postal Service to raise
1st class stamp rate 2 cents
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The Board of
Governors of the U.S. Postal Service
agreed in a closed meeting Tuesday
to hike the price of a first class stamp
from 20 cents to 22 cents next year,
sources close to the board said.
The nine-member hoard, which
originally asked for a 23-cent stamp,
is expected to announce the decision
to accept the Postal Rate Commis
sion’s recommendation at an open
meeting Wednesday. The board also
was to announce when the new rates
will take effect, although the change
is not expected to come before the
end of January 1985.
The cost of mailing a letter was
last increased in November 1981
when it went from 18 cents to 20
cents.
Byrd sure
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Senate Dem
ocratic leader Robert Byrd said
Tuesday he was confident that he
can repel a challenge from Sen. Law-
ton Chiles of Florida and remain as
party chief in the 99th Congress.
“No question about it, no ques
tion,” Byrd told reporters. “I can
only say that I’m confident and
sure.”
Chiles, the 54-year-old ranking
Democrat on the Senate Budget
The sources said the governors
also accepted the rate commission’s
September recommendation to in
crease post card rates from 13 cents
to 14 cents and give bulk mailers a
break by keeping the rates virtually
unchanged on pre-sorted letters.
Van Seagraves, publisher of the
authoritative Business Mailers Re
view said the governors were also ex
pected to accept the rate commis
sion’s recommendations for second
and third class postage.
He said industry finds the rates,
also lower than what the governors
originally requested, “very attrac
tive.”
Wednesday’s meeting was to be
the last for outgoing Postmaster
General William Bolger, who retires
Dec. 31. Chicago postal chief Paul
Committee, said last week he would
run against Byrd when Democrats
meet Wednesday to pick their lead
ers for the coming Congress.
It is the first time that Byrd, the
Democratic leader since 1977 and
the whip since 1971, has faced a
challenge — one more indication
that party leaders are looking for a
change following President Reagan’s
landslide victory.
Byrd, 67, is rated the favorite
Carlin was named last mont ^ j?
Bolger’s replacement in the $81,000-
a-yearjob.
At the same time Tuesday, tnt
biggest labor arbitration in histon
began with word that the U.S. Post*
Service had modified its request for
a two-tier pay scale in a new contract
with the nation’s two largest mail
unions.
Instead of paving new employee
23 percent less tnan current employ
ees, the postal service now is suggest’
ing a 19 percent disparity, saw
Frank Stella, a spokesman for tM
National Association of Letter Cat
riers.
The Postal Service, however, re
fused to either confirm or deny W
development.
against Chiles, who has offered hint’
self as a “new face” in contrast to
Byrd’s old guard image and as a
leader who would be more forceful,
articulate and telegenic.
Chiles, a three-term senator, said
he was partly prompted to nut
against Byrd because of the election
by Republicans of Kansas Sen, Rob
ert Dole as majority leader. Dole is
expected to be a highly-active, vet] 1
articulate leader.
of Chiles defeat
Ordination of women urged
by Catholic priests’ group
United Press International
WASHINGTON — An indepen
dent group of Roman Catholic
priests Tuesday called for full equal
ity for women in the church and
urged authorities to consider the
possibility of ordaining women to
the priesthood.
The 8,500-word draft pastoral let
ter, issued by Priests for Equality,
recommended a 10-year process of
study and experimentation on how
women can share in the ordained
ministry of the church.
The group, formed in 1975, has
2,100 members.
“Ordination to the priesthood is
the controversial focus of reflections
on equality in the church,” the
statement said.
“Despite Jesus’s precautions
against seeking priority of place in
the community, ordination has come
to occupy the central position on
questions of authority and decision
making in the church,” it added.
“Ordination to the priesthood has
become the door through which of
ficial ministry is initiated.”
The priests’ statement came as a
committee of U.S. Roman Catholic
bishops, under the leadership of
Bishop Joseph Imesch of Joliet, Ill.,
prepared its own pastoral letter on
the role of women in the church.
That letter is not expected to be re
ady before 1987 and is not expected
to challenge church teaching oppos
ing women’s ordination.
“As awareness grows that the
structures of our church, incluM
language, imagery, ministry and ^
cision-making are patriarch^'
deeply committed members, btp
women and men, suffer alienati 0 "
when they experience the resolve 0 '
church leaders to maintain thisg en '
der discrimination, even in the fe ce
of church teaching,” the priests’l el '
ter said. . .
“Our church has authoritative 1 !
taught that in the fundamen ial
rights of human beings, discrimfe 3 '
tion based on gender is contrary t0
God’s intent,” the group said. “0^
failure to implement this teaching 111
the structures of our church is p r °'
ducing scandal. It undercuts olir
credibility to speak of justice inofee'
vital areas of human need.”