DOW/UCC Fact Sheet
Dow Chemical Company (DOW) and Union Carbide Corporation- Bhopal disaster 22 years on
- “… All of a sudden he started coughing and in the meantime he heard screams coming from outside. As soon as my husband opened the door all we could see was smoke entering our house. Then everyone in my family started coughing and my kids started complaining of their eyes burning. Then we heard someone saying that we should all run because some gas pipe has exploded in the Union Carbide factory.”
© AFP– Puna Bai, former resident of Jai Prakash Nagar, a poor urban settlement just across the road from the factory.
- On the night of December 2nd, 1984, over 35 tons of toxic gases leaked from a pesticide plant in Bhopal owned by the US-based multinational Union Carbide Corporation (UCC)’s Indian affiliate Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL). The gases that leaked consisted mainly of at least 24 tons of poisonous Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) and other reaction products, possibly including toxins such as hydrogen cyanide, nitrous oxide and carbon monoxide. After the leak, UCC maintained that MIC was nothing more than tear gas even though the company’s own manuals clearly said that MIC was a fatal poison.
- In the next 2-3 days more than 7,000 people died and many more were injured. Over the last 20 years at least 15,000 people have died from illnesses related to gas exposure. Today more than 100,000 people continue to suffer chronic and debilitating illnesses for which treatment is largely ineffective. To date, UCC has refused to identify the reaction products released and related toxicological information of the products that leaked, preventing the development of an appropirate treatment for the victims.
- The company decided to store quantities of the “ultra-hazardous” MIC in the Bhopal plant in bulk, but did not equip the plant with the corresponding processing or safety capacity. UCC transferred technology that entailed operational risks. It did not apply the same standards of safety in design or operations in Bhopal as it had in place in the USA. Months before the disaster, the UCC was warned of the possibility of a runaway reaction.
- The government of India and the state government of Madhya Pradesh were aware that the Bhopal plant used hazardous substances and processes. Still, just months before the accident, the state government granted legal titles to thousands of people who had built homes around the plant site. The government did not impose strict safety standards nor press Union Carbide to review safety mechanisms.
- UCC has argued that UCIL was responsible, despite the fact that UCC owned 50.9% of UCIL, and maintained extensive corporate, managerial, technical and operational control over UCIL. After UCC was taken over by Dow Chemical (DOW) in 2001, both companies used the new ownership structure in an attempt to avoid any responsibility for the Bhopal disaster.
- In 1985 the government of India enacted the Bhopal Claims Act, took away from victims the right to represent themselves and vested itself with the exclusive right to represent victims. In 1989 the government agreed to a settlement with UCC that left survivors living in penury.
- In 2006 concerned shareholders are re-filing a proposal with Dow calling on the company to report about initiatives they are taking to address the health, environmental and social problems associated with the Bhopal chemical disaster. Amnesty International is helping to educate powerful shareholders about this issue and press them to vote in favor of the Bhopal resolution.
Learn more and find out how you can take action. »
E-mail Amnesty’s Corporate Action Network (CAN).
