By Ross Kerber

BOSTON (Reuters) - Major U.S. corporations DuPont Co <DD.N> and United Parcel Service Inc <UPS.N> were among eight companies removed from a social investment index series because of concerns about human rights, climate change and similar matters, the UK index provider FTSE Group said.

FTSE gave few specifics about the reasoning behind the changes it made to its widely followed FTSE4Good index series, when it announced the removals late on Thursday.

At least one of the companies said it simply missed a deadline for filing data.

Many managers of so-called "socially responsible funds" use the FTSE4Good and similar indexes to screen companies before buying their shares.

The most prominent change made on Thursday was the decision by FTSE's policy committee to drop BP Plc <BP.L>.

FTSE said the oil giant was removed after its committee considered the social and environmental impact of the company's huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico this year.

The committee also weighed the company's past record and decided that "BP did not have an exemplary record and its response to the incident was not exemplary either," said David Harris, the FTSE's director of responsible investment.

Harris and FTSE spokespeople declined to give more details about the committee's reasoning on BP or the other companies, other than to cite the overall criteria used.

In turn, the policy committee's acting chairman, University of Edinburgh business school senior lecturer Craig Mackenzie, referred questions back to FTSE.

According to its guidelines, the FTSE4Good index series excludes tobacco producers, some weapons makers and those involved with nuclear power, for instance.

Some of the recent changes may trigger debate. DuPont, for instance, is listed among the "best places to work" by Human Rights Campaign, a Washington, D.C.-based gay rights organization.

Officials with DuPont and UPS did not immediately respond to questions. In addition to DuPont and UPS, FTSE's policy committee removed from the index as of September 18 two British construction companies, Morgan Sindall Plc <MGNS.L> and Taylor Wimpey Plc <TW.L>, in both cases citing "climate change."

A Morgan Sindall spokesman said: "Due to the decentralized nature of Morgan Sindall, the company missed the deadline for

collating the mass of information required."

A Taylor Wimpey spokeswoman said it could not immediately comment.

The committee also dropped three Japanese companies -- automotive parts maker Bridgestone Corp <5108.T>, beverage maker Kirin Holdings <2503.T>, and industrial engineering firm Kubota Corp<6326.T>. In all three cases FTSE cited "human rights" issues in a summary of the actions, without more specifics. None of the three immediately responded to requests for comment.

FTSE said it added 13 companies to the indexes, meaning they now meet the screening criteria. These include Chubb Corp <CB.N> and AOL <AOL.N> in the United States, Switzerland's Swatch Group <UHR.VX> and Italy's Tenaris SA<TENR.MI>.

(Reporting by Ross Kerber; additional reporting by Scott Malone, Ernest Scheyder and Paul Sandle; editing by Ros Krasny)