Dow row: London Olympics ethics commissioner quits

London : Sustainability Commissioner to the London 2012 Olympics, Meredith Alexander, quit on Thursday in protest of the sponsorship deal with Dow Chemical Company for its connection to the Bhopal gas disaster.

Alexander was appointed by Mayor of London Boris Johnson to monitor the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG).

Alexander, head of trade and corporates at the charity Action Aid told the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012 that she could no longer remain in the unpaid post given LOCOG’s refusal to end the association.

She was one of 13 commissioners.

“I don’t want to be party to a defence of Dow Chemicals, the company responsible for one of the worst corporate human rights violations in my generation. It is appalling that 27 years on, the site has still not been cleaned up and thousands upon thousands of people are still suffering.

“I believe people should be free to enjoy London 2012 without this toxic legacy on their conscience,” she said.

Welcoming Alexander’s resignation, Amnesty International said the London 2012 Olympic organisers must admit their mistake in awarding the lucrative seven million pound contract to the Dow Chemical Company.

Dow Chemical owns US-based Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), the company that held a majority share in the Indian subsidiary that owned and operated the UCC plant responsible for the 1984 gas leak disaster, which killed thousands of people.