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Union Carbide



 
 
Union Carbide Corporation (Union Carbide) is one of the oldest chemical and polymers companies in the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, currently employing more than 3,800 people. It became infamous in popular culture for a major industrial accident
Bhopal disaster

The Bhopal disaster or Bhopal gas tragedy was an industrial disaster that took place at a Union Carbide subsidiary pesticide plant in the city of Bhopal, India....
 that took place in its Bhopal
Bhopal

Bhopal Historically, Bhopal was also the capital of the Bhopal . The city attracted international attention as a consequence of the Bhopal disaster, when the Union Carbide plant leaked deadly methyl isocyanate gas during the night of December 3, 1984....
, Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a States and territories of India in central India. Its capital is Bhopal. Madhya Pradesh was originally the largest state in India until November 1, 2000 when the state of Chhattisgarh was carved out....
, India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
 plant in 1984. After heated litigation, Union Carbide was found to be at fault for the disaster, but the major chemical company denied responsibility.






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Union Carbide Corporation (Union Carbide) is one of the oldest chemical and polymers companies in the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, currently employing more than 3,800 people. It became infamous in popular culture for a major industrial accident
Bhopal disaster

The Bhopal disaster or Bhopal gas tragedy was an industrial disaster that took place at a Union Carbide subsidiary pesticide plant in the city of Bhopal, India....
 that took place in its Bhopal
Bhopal

Bhopal Historically, Bhopal was also the capital of the Bhopal . The city attracted international attention as a consequence of the Bhopal disaster, when the Union Carbide plant leaked deadly methyl isocyanate gas during the night of December 3, 1984....
, Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a States and territories of India in central India. Its capital is Bhopal. Madhya Pradesh was originally the largest state in India until November 1, 2000 when the state of Chhattisgarh was carved out....
, India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
 plant in 1984. After heated litigation, Union Carbide was found to be at fault for the disaster, but the major chemical company denied responsibility. Union Carbide became a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company
Dow Chemical Company

The Dow Chemical Company is an United States multinational corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan. As of 2007, it is the second largest chemical manufacturer in the world by revenue and as of February 2009, the third-largest chemical company in the world by market capitalization ....
 (TDCC) on February 6, 2001, and sells most of the products it manufactures to TDCC. It is a former component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average
Dow Jones Industrial Average

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is one of several stock market index, created by nineteenth-century The Wall Street Journal editor and Dow Jones & Company co-founder Charles Dow....
.

In 1920, its research
Research

Research is defined as human activity based on intellectual application in the investigation of matter. The primary purpose for applied research is discovery , interpretation , and the development of methods and systems for the advancement of human knowledge on a wide variety of scientific matters of our world and the universe....
ers developed an economical way to make ethylene
Ethylene

Ethylene is the chemical compound with the formula C2H4. It is the simplest alkene. Because it contains a carbon-carbon double bond, ethylene is called an unsaturated hydrocarbon or an olefin....
 from natural gas
Natural gas

Natural gas is a gas consisting primarily of methane. It is found associated with fossil fuels, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is created by methanogenic organisms in marshes, bogs, and landfills....
, giving birth to the modern petrochemical
Petrochemical

Petrochemicals are chemical products made from raw materials of petroleum or other hydrocarbon origin. Although some of the chemical compounds that originate from petroleum may also be derived from coal and natural gas, petroleum is the major source....
s industry. Today, Union Carbide possesses some of the industry's most advanced process and catalyst technologies, and operates some of the most cost-efficient, large-scale production facilities in the world. Before divesting from them, the chemical giant also owned consumer products Eveready and Energizer batteries
Energizer Holdings

Energizer Holdings , headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, is an American manufacturer of multiple consumer products, including Battery , where it has a market share of approximately 25%....
, Glad
Glad (company)

Glad is an American company specializing in trash bags and other plastic storage containers....
 bags and wraps, Simoniz
Simoniz

Simoniz is a trademark for a brand of car wax that originated with Union Carbide in 1935. It was popular with automobile dealers where it was used for a auto detailing process called Simonizing or Simonized....
 car wax and Prestone
Prestone

Prestone is a brand of antifreeze marketed by Honeywell. Until 1994 it was made by First Brands, which is now The Clorox Company.Several varieties of antifreeze are sold under the Prestone name, in addition to radiator additives, such as stop leaks....
 antifreeze
Antifreeze

Antifreeze is a cryoprotectant used in internal combustion engines, and for many other heat transfer applications, such as HVAC chillers and solar water heaters....
.

Union Carbide primarily produces chemicals and polymers that undergo one or more further conversions by customers before reaching consumers. Some of these materials are high-volume commodities, while others are specialty products meeting the needs of smaller market niches. The end-uses served include paints and coatings, packaging, wire and cable, household products, personal care, pharmaceuticals, automotive, textiles, agriculture and oil and gas.

Bhopal disaster

The Bhopal disaster of 1984 was an industrial disaster that was caused by the accidental release of 40 tonnes of methyl isocyanate
Methyl isocyanate

Methyl isocyanate is an organic compound with the molecular formula C2H3NO, arranged as H3C-N=C=O. Synonyms are isocyanatomethane, methyl carbylamine, and MIC....
 (MIC) from a Union Carbide India, Limited (UCIL, now known as Eveready Industries
Eveready Industries

Eveready Industries India, Ltd is the flagship company of the B.M. Khaitan Group. The brand Eveready has been a part of India since 1905.EIIL's principal activities are the manufacture and market of Battery , flashlight cases, electrolytic manganese dioxide and arc carbons....
 India, Limited) pesticide plant majority (50.9%) owned by Union Carbide located in the heart of the city of Bhopal, in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.

The BBC gives the death toll as nearly 3,000 people dead initially and at least 15,000 from related illnesses since, while Greenpeace cites 20,000 total deaths as a conservative estimate. It is now accepted that at least 8,000 people died initially.

According to the Bhopal Medical Appeal, around 500,000 people were exposed to the leaking tables. Approximately 20,000, to this date, are believed to have died as a result; on average, roughly one person dies every day from the effects. Over 120,000 continue to suffer from the effects of the disaster, such as breathing difficulties, cancer, serious birth-defects, blindness, gynaecological complications and other related problems.

See also

  • Union Carbide Corporate Center


External links

  • - Union Carbide Corporation homepage