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UK lawmakers demand Dow’s Olympic deal is ditched

LONDON (AP) — British opposition lawmakers are demanding that London 2012 Olympics organizers scrap a deal for Dow Chemical Co. to fund an artistic centerpiece of the games over concerns about the company’s links to the deadly 1984 toxic gas leak in Bhopal, India.

Labour Party legislator Barry Gardiner confirmed Thursday that members of the House of Commons were pressing the London organizing committee, LOCOG, to reverse the deal as a result of concern over the company’s response to the victims of the Bhopal leak, which killed an estimated 15,000 people.

The U.S.-based chemical giant will pay for a curtain-style wrap to encircle the Olympic stadium in east London under a deal announced in August.

Organizers had scrapped original plans for a more complex — and costly — stadium wrap which had been estimated to cost 7 million pounds ($11.4 million), but struck an agreement with Dow to pay for a scaled down wrap, made from 336 individual polyester panels, each approximately 25 meters (89 feet) high and 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) wide.

Gardiner and fellow Labour lawmakers Keith Vaz and Tessa Jowell — a former government minister responsible for the Olympics — met with London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe on Wednesday to raise their concerns over Dow’s role in the games.

Vaz said lawmakers would meet with Dow next week to raise their objections.

 

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