Alleging that Dow Chemicals is secretly pressurising Indian government to help rid the company of its legal liabilities related to Bhopal gas disaster, Amnesty International has sought inquiry by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) into, what it calls, failure of the company to disclose to the shareholders the information about its liabilities regarding the disaster. Thousands of people died when about 40 tonnes of deadly methyl isocynate (MIC) gas was released from the Union Carbide plant on December 3, 1984. Union Carbide has since been taken over by Dow Chemical.