| 1 Nov 1917 |
Union Carbide & Carbon Corp. formed from a merger of four companies. |
| 1939 |
Absorbs Bakelite Corporation. |
| 1957 |
Name changed to Union Carbide. |
| 3 Dec 1984 |
Methyl isocyanate leaks from a Union Carbide pesticide plant located at a slum in Bhopal, India. The gas kills 4,000 people and injures 200,000 others, many of whom were permanently blinded or disabled. The event set a standard for industrial accidents that has yet to be equalled. |
| 7 Dec 1989 |
Melvin Belli files a $15 billion class-action lawsuit against Union Carbide for the Bhopal incident. |
| 6 Feb 2001 |
Union Carbide totally absorbed into Dow Chemical Company. |
| 3 Dec 2004 |
On the 20th anniversary of the Bhopal incident, a spokesman from Dow Chemical, calling himself Jude Finisterra, appears on BBC National TV, stating that the chemical giant accepts full responsibility for the disaster, and would begin plans for a $12 billion remuneration to the people killed or injured. A couple hours later, spokesmen from Dow repudiated this interview, saying that the man interviewed on the BBC was not a spokesman for the company, and that the company still denied responsibility for the atrocity, and that all promises of remuneration were false. |