Corporate Responsibility

Paper Summary:

On December 3, 1984, a cloud of highly toxic gas rose above the city of Bhopal, India. When it settled, it instantly killed approximately 3,000 people and left up to 600,000 people dying slowly or suffering various kinds of medical problems. This paper examines the claims by Union Carbide that the company should not be held responsible as the explosion was a result of sabotage. The paper argues that the company should be held responsible as it failed to impose security measures that might have avoided such a tragedy. The paper then examines the case of 3M company which come under fire for marketing a respiratory mask that it (allegedly) knew was not as safe to use as claimed.

From the Paper:

"While disavowing any culpability in the incident, they nevertheless paid out $470 million (about Rs. 7.5 billion) plus an additional Rs. 43 million to Indian government agencies that were supposed to distribute the cash to survivors of the incident and to families of those killed or who have since died as a result of injuries sustained at the time (Economist. Par. 4). Generally, big corporations don't pay out this kind of cash unless they are forced to, and certainly not just to be nice. It follows that Union Carbide paid this huge sum as part of an effort to preserve (or restore) its reputation."

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