The environmental pressure group accuses the company of failing to
assist victims of the Bhopal disaster in India.
Dow Chemical took over the assets of Union Carbide, whose pesticide
plant in Bhopal was the cause of the world's biggest industrial
catastrophe.
About 3,000 people died and another 500,000 were seriously injured
when toxic gas leaked from the plant in December 1984.
Greenpeace says the death toll from persistent chemical poisoning in
Bhopal has now risen to 20,000.
The Greenpeace protesters deposited seven sealed drums containing 250
kilograms of toxic waste from Bhopal in front of Dow's largest
European operation, Dow Benelux, in the southern Dutch town of
Terneuzen, the environmental group said in a statement.
They also unfurled a banner demanding Dow Chemical clean up the
abandoned Bhopal site, which has been seriously contaminated since
the tragedy 18 years ago.
Among the arrested activists was Greenpeace's US executive director,
John Passacantando, as well as the leader of a victims' rights group
in Bhopal, the group said.
In a new report, Greenpeace says it has further evidence of severe
soil and water contamination around the Bhopal site.
It says the pollution includes BHC, "a mixture of toxic chemicals
that can damage the nervous system, liver and kidneys and which can
be passed from mother to child".
In November, the Bhopal Municipal Corporation said water in the area
around the factory, where some 20,000 people live, was not safe to
drink.
Dow Chemical was forced by a US court in November to release internal
Union Carbide documents showing the company cut crucial safety
features at Bhopal in order to save costs, British journal New
Scientist reports.
Union Carbide documents also showed that by 1989, the company
suspected that the surrounding grounds had been contaminated by
chemical by-products.
This was publicly confirmed by recent analyses, the journal said on December 4.
The umbrella victims group International Campaign for Justice in
Bhopal, which is supported by Greenpeace, wants Dow Chemical to
accept its liabilities in Bhopal, decontaminate the soil and provide
locals with clean drinking water, long-term medical care and full
compensation.