Dow drops logo from London Games stadium panels: Report

Dow Chemical has agreed to drop its logo from the fabric wrap

Dow Chemical has agreed to drop its logo from the fabric wrap panels of the Olympic stadium,agreeing to the vision of the 2012 Games,according to a report in the express.co.uk.

The Indian Olympic Association,however,said that they would not settle just for the American corporations name being removed from the wrap,and that they wanted the chemical giant to end its association as the sponsors of the Games.

Dow,the firm that acquired Union Carbide responsible for the Bhopal gas tragedy over 10 years ago,have taken the decision only for the 2012.

IOA guarded

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Reacting to the development,IOA acting president VK Malhotra said,I have also heard about Dow Chemicals withdrawing their logo from the decorative wrap but I dont know what it means. Our demand is that Dow should be removed as a sponsor. We are sending our communication to Dow as well as IOC on this regard, he said.

Rachna Dhingra of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action said that the move was a small step in the right direction. The IOC needs to get rid of Dow. The issue is much bigger than just the logo and in case they do not revoke the sponsorship,the Indian government needs to come out with a statement saying they will pull out of the games. Dow needs to be held accountable, she said.

Rachna said there was a lot of pressure on Dow and not just because of protests in India. Different politicians of various parties in UK and a lot of international Olympians have also joined in the demands. The South Asian community in London have also been exerting pressure,with more than 11,000 petitioners attaching their signatures to the protest movement, she added.

Former hockey Olympian from Bhopal Jalaluddin Rizvi,who represented the country in the 1984 Games,said he appreciated the gesture but only the removal of Dow from the list of sponsors will ensure that Londons stature as a host will go up.