TWA Condemns UK Govt for Acceptance of Dow's Sponsorship of 2012 Olympics

ToxicsWatch Alliance (TWA) condemns UK government's acceptance of Dow Chemicals' sponsorship for the 2012 Olympics scheduled to be held in London.

TWA demands that Indian Olympic Association should boycott the Olympics if the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games do not disassociate themselves from Dow Chemicals.

Dow Chemicals Company had announced on 15th July, 2010 that it would become a global sponsor of the Olympics, hoping it can bring in more than $1 billion of revenue in the next 10 years by supplying material to build game facilities and bolstering its brand.

This Midland, Michigan-based company is all set to become the official chemical company for the games.

Dow will join nine other companies, including McDonald Corporation and General Electric Company as part of The Olympic Partner program. Dow's sponsorship runs through 2020. The rationale of the agreement is questionable.

"The Olympics is a market," Dow's Chief Executive Andrew Liveris had claimed. "This is a market and revenue opportunity that will generate $1 billion" adding that 'We're not a chemical company. We're a science company, a sustainable science company."

TWA dismisses the claim of being a sustainable company which is yet to settle the liability it inherited from Union Carbide Corporation in the aftermath of Bhopal's industrial disaster in December 1984.