Union Carbide

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Union Carbide Corporation (Union Carbide) is one of the oldest chemical and polymers companies in the United States, and currently has more than 3,800 employees.[citation needed]

In 1920, its researchers developed an economical way to make ethylene from natural gas, giving birth to the modern petrochemicals 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 them, the chemical giant also owned consumer products Eveready and Energizer batteries, Glad bags and wraps, Simoniz car wax and Prestone antifreeze.

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.

Union Carbide is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company (TDCC) and sells most of the products it manufactures to TDCC. It is a former component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.[1]

Union Carbide is also infamous for a major industrial accident that took place in its Bhopal, India plant in 1984.

[edit] Bhopal Disaster

Main article: Bhopal Disaster

The Bhopal Disaster of 1984 was an industrial disaster that was caused by the accidental release of 40 tonnes of methyl isocyanate (MIC) from a Union Carbide India, Limited (UCIL, now known as Eveready Industries India, Limited) pesticide plant partly (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.

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.

In 2007 British Indian writer Indra Sinha published his novel, Animal's People, based on the Union Carbide disaster and its aftermath. Written from the point of view of a boy who is transformed by the chemical leak and has to walk on all fours like an animal, the novel was short-listed for the 2007 Booker Prize for fiction.

[edit] References

  1. ^ History of DJIA, globalfinancialdata.com
  • "Five Minutes Past Midnight in Bhopal" (original title: "Il était minuit cinq à Bhopal"), Dominique Lapierre and Javier Moro, 2001. ISBN 0-446-53088-3
  • "The Bhopal Saga - Causes and Consequences of the World's Largest Industrial Disaster", Ingrid Eckerman, 2004. India: Universities Press. ISBN 81-7371-515-7. [1]

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Dow Chemical Co.
Corporate Directors:
Arnold Allemang · Jacqueline Barton · J. Michael Cook · Jeff Fettig · Barbara Franklin · Andrew Liveris · Keith McKennon · Pedro Reinhard · James Ringler · Harold Shapiro · Ruth Shaw · William Stavropoulos · Paul Stern
Assets & Products:
Annual Revenue: $40.2 billion USD (▲23% FY 2004) · Employees: 43,203 · Stock Symbols: NYSE: DOW · Website: www.dow.com