London Olympics: Ethics commissioner resigns

A top official of the body monitoring the London 2012 Olympics resigned from her post on Thursday over the Dow sponsorship row.

Ethics Commissioner Meredith Alexander resigned from the post in protest of the sponsorship deal for its link to the Bhopal Gas tragedy of India in 1984 that killed over 15,000 and affected countless.

London Mayor Boris Johnson had appointed Alexander to serve on the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012, media reports said.

Dow is likely to provide a plastic wrap that would encircle the London 2012 Olympics stadium during the sporting event.

Dow bought Union Carbide in 1999, the company whose Indian subsidiary owned the Bhopal pesticide plant the spewed the poisonous gas.

Union Carbide had paid $470 million in compensation in 1989, but the survivors and activists said it was too small an amount for such a catastrophe and they should pay $1.2 Billion more in damages.

On the other hand, the company has clarified its stance by issuing a statement which said that it was in no way involved with the Bhopal tragedy or its aftermath.

While it is understandable that human emotions evoked by the tragedy remain, allowing a misrepresentation of facts and to rewrite history as some are trying to do is not only wrong, but it sends an unfortunate and inaccurate message that obscures the facts rather than clarifies the Bhopal tragedy, the company said.