IOC tells India that Dow Chemical will be an Olympic sponsor

NEW DELHI (AP) -- The International Olympic Committee has reportedly told India's Sports Ministry that it will stand by Dow Chemical Co. as a sponsor of the London 2012 Games despite pressure over the company's links to the 1984 Bhopal disaster.

The Sports Ministry wrote to the IOC last week, following letters from the Indian Olympic Association over recent months demanding that Dow be dropped.

The Press Trust of India reported Thursday that the IOC has replied to the latest letter as it had to previous correspondence, saying that Dow neither owned nor operated the Union Carbide plant when the disaster occurred.

Dow bought Union Carbide in 2000. Union Carbide's Bhopal plant is blamed for the deadly gas leak that killed an estimated 15,000 people and injured half a million people.