Dow Chemical

Dow Chemical is a US multinational chemical company that offers a broad range of products and services to customers in more than 175 countries. Products include food and pharmaceuticals. Dow has annual sales of around $49 billion and employs 43,000 people worldwide.

Joint ventures

Dow has joint ventures with the following companies:

Compañía Mega, S.A. Dow Corning Corporation EQUATE Petrochemical Co. K.S.C. Equipolymers MEGlobal Univation Technologies

Subsidiaries

Dow also has a number of subsidiaries, including Dow AgroSciences LLC and Union Carbide Corporation.

Dow Agrosciences UK part of AgroSciences LLC develops and manufactures products in the following areas Cereals Grassland Oilseed Rape Potatoes Sugar Beet Fruit Crop Vegetables Forage Maize Non-food Crops Non-crop Pests

The Company's vision is "To be the largest, most profitable, and most respected chemical company in the world".

Dow Chemical is an active member of the American Chemistry Council, and an active partner in different programs and initiatives in both the World Bank and United Nations. Products

Pesticides

Chlorpyrifos was until 2000 one of the most widely used household pesticide in the US. However, chlorpyrifos is also a nerve toxin and suspected endocrine disruptor and has been associated with carcinogenicity, reproductive and developmental toxicity, and acute toxicity. In 1995, the US Environmental Protection Agency fined the company $732,000 for not sending the EPA reports concerning 249 Chlorpyrifos poisoning incidents. In June 2000, the Company withdrew their registration of chlorpyrifos for use in homes and other places where children might be exposed, and restricted its use on crops. It continues to be marketed in developing countries, such as India, where sales literature claimed it has "an established record of safety regarding humans and pets." In 2003, the company paid a $2 million fine to the state of New York. This was imposed due to the Company's illegal advertising of Chlorpyrifos as "safe".

Agent Orange

Dow along with Monsanto supplied the US military with Agent Orange during the Vietnam war. This is a chemical defoliant which contains dioxin. Suring the war, dioxin from the defoliant found its way into the food chain and was linked to an increase in birth defects among Vietnamese people. In 2005, a lawsuit was filed by Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange against Dow and Monsanto. The companies argued that no link has been proved between Agent Orange and the alleged health problems and also that the companies could not be held responsible for the manner in which their products were used. ^[1] The lawsuit was dismissed. ^[2] In 2006, a court in South Korea did order Dow and Monsanto to compensate South Korean veterans of the Vietnam War and their families for Agent Orange-related injuries.[20]

Board of directors

Current members of the board of directors of The Company are:

• Arnold Allemang
• Professor Jacqueline Barton
• James A. Bell
• Jeff Fettig
• Barbara Franklin
• Andrew N. Liveris
• Geoffery E. Merszei
• James Ringler
• Ruth Shaw
• Paul Stern

Finances

In 2005 the company has operating profits of $5.4 billion ^[3] In 2005 sales were $46.3 billion. In 2006 first-quarter net earnings were $1.2 billion. The company currently spends around $1 bilion per annum in R&D.

Liveris supports the vertically integrated approach used at Dow, which produces everything from basic chemical feedstocks to high value products such as pesticides and reverse osmosis membranes. These value-adding product chains, along with Dow's wide product range, help the company to weather the storms of the global economy. Despite this, high energy and feedstock costs may begin to take their toll, particularly if global demand begins to fall just as supply is rising. Like many chemical companies, Dow is facing pressures of regulation in the US and Europe, particularly as the EU introduces its new REACH policy. Litigation costs in the US taken over by Dow as a result of its 2001 takeover of Union Carbide also remain a concern. For these reasons the company is looking to the Middle East and Asia for new projects. In Kuwait , Dow is constructing (with PIC of Kuwait) a new world-scale ethane cracker for production of ethylene, along with an ethylene oxide/ethylene glycol plant and (for 2008) a facility for production of aromatic hydrocarbons. In Oman, the company is working with the Oman government to build a new world-scale polyethylene plant. In China, the company is collaborating with Shenhua Group (the country's largest coal mining company) to improve catalyst efficiency to allow viable conversion of coal to olefins. Dow is also seeking to expand its R&D presence in Asia, adding 600 jobs in Shanghai by the end of 2007, and the company may open up a large R&D center in India. The joint ventures planned for Asia are typical of Dow's "asset-light" approach, which works by offering a combination of intellectual property and money in exchange for a share in a world-scale production facility. At the same time, the company is considering selling a share of some of its existing assets in order to free up cash.

References

1. ^ Agent Orange lawsuit opens in US. BBC (March 1, 2005).
2. ^ US won't compensate Vietnam's Agent Orange victims: official. Todayonline.com (June 6, 2006).

20.^ Court rules against U.S. firms on Agent Orange. MSNBC (January 26, 2006). 21.^ About Dow Corning. Dow Corning. 22.^ Wade, Cheryl (June 24, 2006). Governor visits HSC; expansion plans on schedule. Midland Daily News.

25.^ The Dow Event Center. The Dow Chemical Company. 26.^ Welcome to the Dow Event Center. Dow Event Center.

1. ^ "Top 50 Chemical Producers", Chemical and Engineering News, Vol. 84, Issue 20 (May 15, 2006), pp 10-15

Contact details

• Address: UK HQ, Latchmore Court,Brand Street,HITCHIN SG5 1NH
• Tel: 01462 457272
• E-mail: DowAgroSciencesUK@dow.com
• Website: http://dowagro.com/uk/