The Union Carbide India Ltd. (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, which used to manufacture (among other products) the pesticide Sevin (carbaryl) gained world-wide recognition as a result of the tragic chemical disaster on the night of 2-3rd December

In May 1999, Greenpeace International, along with the Bhopal-based NGOs Bhopal Group for Information and Action and Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sanghatana, carried out an investigation of the former UCIL site. Samples of soil were collected both from areas once used for waste disposal, and around the former Sevin plant, where a ruptured and leaking storage tank was found.