In 1984, a gas leak in Bhopal, India, killed up to 8,000 people and temporarily blinded many more. The RCSB was the first relief to arrive and a UK disaster appeal was launched to fund the construction of a new eye hospital to treat the injured. In 1987, Blue Peter launched its ‘Sight Savers’ appeal, raising over £2 million for eye care across Africa, and RCSB subsequently adopted the title Sightsavers. The same year, pharmaceutical company Merck released Mectizan®, trade name for Ivermectin, a drug which killed the blindness-causing stage of the worms that cause onchocerciasis. Sightsavers could now begin a preventative distribution programme.