|
The Dow Chemical Company ( ) is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan.
Overview The company was founded in 1897 by Canadian-born chemist Herbert Henry Dow, who had invented a new method of extracting the bromine that was trapped underground in brine at Midland, Michigan.• While at first the company sold only bleach and potassium bromide, Dow today has seven major operating segments, with a wide variety of products offered by each.• The company's 2005 sales totaled $46.3 billion, with a net income of $4.5 billion. Traded on the New York Stock Exchange, as of 2005 Dow has about 105,000 shareholders.• Products Dow is the world's largest producer of plastics, including polystyrene, polyurethanes, polyethylene, polypropylene, and synthetic rubbers. It is also a major producer of the chemicals calcium chloride, ethylene oxide, and various acrylates, surfactants, and cellulose resins. It produces many agricultural chemicals, perhaps being most famous for its pesticide Lorsban.• Its most well-known consumer products include Styrofoam brand insulation .Two former Dow product lines, Saran wrap and Ziploc bags, have been sold to SC Johnson. Performance plastics Performance Plastics make up 25% of Dow's sales, with many products designed for the automotive and construction industries. The plastics include polyolefins such as polyethylene and polypropylene, as well as the polystyrene most often seen in StyrofoamTM insulating material. A complete range of epoxy resin intermediates and products are manufactured by Dow, including bisphenol A and epichlorohydrin. Polyurethane, polyether polyols and specialty acrylates are all derived from ethylene oxide (EO). The SaranTM range of resins and films is based on polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC). Performance chemicals The Performance Chemicals (17% of sales) segment produces materials for water purification, pharmaceuticals, paper coatings, paints and advanced electronics. Major product lines include nitroparaffins such as nitromethane, used in the pharmaceutical industry and manufactured by the Angus Chemical Company•, a Dow subsidiary. Important polymers include DowexTM ion exchange resins, acrylic and polystyrene latex, as well as CarbowaxTM polyethylene glycols. Specialty chemicals are used as starting materials for production of agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals. Agricultural sciences Agricultural Sciences provides 7% of sales, and are responsible for a range of insecticide s (such as LorsbanTM) and fungicides. Genetically modified plant seeds are also an important, growing area. Basic plastics Basic Plastics (26% of sales) end up in everything from diaper liners to beverage bottles and oil tanks. Products are based on the three major polyolefins – polystyrene (such as StyronTM resins), polyethylene and polypropylene. Basic chemicals Basic Chemicals (12% of sales) are used internally by Dow as raw materials, and are also sold worldwide. Markets include dry cleaning, paints and coatings, snow and ice control and the food industry. Major products include ethylene glycol, caustic soda, chlorine, vinyl chloride monomer (VCM, for making PVC) and calcium chloride. Ethylene oxide (EO) and propylene oxide and the derived alcohols ethylene glycol and propylene glycol are major feedstocks for the manufacture of plastics such as polyurethane and PET. Hydrocarbons and energy The Hydrocarbons and Energy operating segment (13% of sales) oversees energy management at Dow, succeeding in raising energy efficiency by 92% since 1990. Fuels and oil-based raw materials are also procured. Major feedstocks for Dow are provided by this group, including ethylene, propylene, 1,3-butadiene, benzene and styrene. History The company originally sold only bleach and potassium bromide, achieving a daily bleach output of 72 tons a day in 1902. Early in the company's existence, a group of British manufacturers attempted to drive Dow out of business by cutting prices. Dow survived by cutting prices in response and, although losing about $90,000 in income, began to diversify its product line.• Even in its early history, the company set a tradition of rapidly diversifying its product line. Within twenty years, Dow had become a major producer of agricultural chemicals, elemental chlorine, phenol and other dyestuffs, and magnesium metal. In the 1930s, Dow began production of plastic resins, which would grow to become one of the corporation's major businesses. Its first plastic products were ethylcellulose, made in 1935, and polystyrene, made in 1937. In 1930, Dow built its first plant to produce magnesium extracted from seawater rather than underground brine. Growth of this business made Dow a strategically important business during World War II, as magnesium became important in fabricating lightweight parts for aircraft. Also during the war, Dow and Corning began their joint venture, Dow Corning, to produce silicones for military and later civilian use. In 1942 Dow began its foreign expansion with the formation of Dow Chemical of Canada in Sarnia, Ontario to produce styrene for use in styrene-butadiene synthetic rubber. In the post-war era, Dow began expanding outside North America, founding its first overseas subsidiary in Japan in 1952, with several other nations following rapidly thereafter. Based largely on its growing plastics business, it opened a consumer products division beginning with Saran wrap in 1953. Based on its growing chemicals and plastics businesses, Dow's sales exceeded $1 billion in 1964, $2 billion in 1971, and $10 billion in 1980. Today, Dow is the world's largest producer of plastics; with its 2001 acquisition of Union Carbide, it has become a major player in the petrochemical industry as well. On August 31, 2006 Dow announced that it had plans to close facilities at three locations:• Dow Corning Equally owned by Dow and Corning, Inc. (formerly Corning Glass Works), Dow Corning was founded in 1943 by the two companies as a joint venture. The company's focus is silicon-based products and technology.• Dow Corning in turn owns 63% of the Hemlock, Michigan-based Hemlock Semiconductor Corporation, which manufactures polycrystalline silicon for semiconductor chips.• Dow Corning manufactured silicone breast implants, which were the cause of controversy and legal liability in the 1980s and 1990s (see below.) Board of directors Current members of the board of directors of The Dow Chemical Company are Arnold Allemang (who is also a senior adviser to the company); chemistry professor Jacqueline Barton; former Boeing manager James A. Bell; Whirlpool Corporation chairman and CEO Jeff Fettig; former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Barbara Franklin; Dow chairman and CEO Andrew N. Liveris; Dow CFO Geoffery E. Merszei; former Dow Brazil finance director J. Pedro Reinhard; Illinois Tool Works Inc. vice chairman James Ringler; Duke Energy Corporation president Ruth Shaw; and Claris Capital chairman Paul Stern (who is Dow's presiding director and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.)• Major Sponsorships In September 2004, the company obtained the naming rights to the Saginaw County Event Center in Saginaw, Michigan; the center is now called the Dow Event Center. The Saginaw Spirit (of the Ontario Hockey League) plays at the Center, which also hosts events such as professional wrestling and live theater.•• In October 2006 the company bought the naming rights to the stadium used by the Single-A Minor League baseball team located in its hometown of Midland, Michigan. The stadium (which opens in April 2007) is called Dow Diamond. The Dow Foundation played a key role in bringing the team, the Great Lakes Loons, to the city. The company also sponsors a global running relay to highlight the need for better drinking water in locations around the globe. The run will roughly follow the 41st North parallel and cover nearly 12,000 miles. The run is organized by the Blue Planet Run Foundation. Bhopal In 1984, a chemical factory operated by Union Carbide, an American company, leaked lethal gases into the surrounding environment, which has caused more than 20,000 deaths and 100,000 disabilities. In 1999, Dow purchased Union Carbide, which is now a wholly owned subsidiary. Dow denies legal liability for the disaster, since it did not own or operate the Bhopal factory. •• The human rights organisation Amnesty International has held Dow responsible for the persistence of contamination and continued suffering of the victims of Bhopal disaster.• Victims of the Bhopal disaster and their supporters have demanded that Dow compel Union Carbide to face trial in India, where it is a fugitive from justice. Breast implants A major manufacturer of silicone breast implants, Dow Corning was successfully sued in 1977 for damages arising from a woman whose implants ruptured; it was the first such successful suit, and Dow Corning paid $170,000 in a settlement. During the 1980s, Ralph Nader's Public Citizen Health Research Group publicised its belief that the implants were cancer-causing; in December of 1990, an episode of Face to Face with Connie Chung addressed the dangers of silicone implants. More lawsuits, as well as Food and Drug Administration reviews, Congressional hearings, and scientific studies took place in the ensuing years; as of December 1991, 137 individual lawsuits were filed against Dow Corning, a figure that would rise to 3,558 in December 1992, and 19,092 by December 1994. Amidst the flurry of lawsuits in May 1995, Dow Corning filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection; several judgments against Dow Corning and Dow Chemical were handed down in lawsuits. Napalm
Agent Orange Agent Orange, a chemical defoliant containing dioxin, was also manufactured by Dow for use by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War; the dioxin from the defoliant made its way into the food chain and was linked to a major increase in birth defects among Vietnamese people. In 2005, a lawsuit was filed by Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange against Dow and Monsanto Company, which also supplied Agent Orange to the military. The companies argued that no link between Agent Orange and the alleged health problems had been proven, and furthermore that the companies are not responsible for the manner in which their products are used by the military.• The lawsuit was thrown out.• 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.• Dioxins in Michigan Starting in the early 2000s, residents living along the Tittabawassee River near the company's headquarters in Midland and nearby Saginaw counties in Michigan filed a class-action lawsuit against the company for dioxin contamination (levels of dioxins were found above those allowed by the Department of Environmental Quality) in the soil on the riverbed and along its shores. As of June 2005, the case is still awaiting class certification. * Chlorpyrifos Chlorpyrifos, marketed by Dow as Dursban, is well known as a home and garden insecticide, and until 2000 it was one of the most widely used household pesticide in the US.The pesticide is also a nerve toxin and suspected endocrine disruptor and has been associated with carcinogenicity, reproductive and developmental toxicity, and acute toxicity. One study claims that Dow has contributed to 80% of the Chlorpyrifos burden of the US. In 1995, Dow was fined $732,000 for not sending the EPA reports it had received on 249 Dursban poisoning incidents. In June 2000, Dow withdrew registration of chlorpyrifos for use in homes and other places where children could be exposed, and severely restricted its use on crops. The company, however, continues to market Dursban in industrializing countries, including India, where Dow's sales literature claimed Dursban has "an established record of safety regarding humans and pets." In 2003, Dow agreed to pay $2 million - the largest penalty ever in a pesticide case - to the state of New York, in response to a lawsuit filed by the Attorney General to end Dow's illegal advertising of Dursban as "safe". Outlook Dow CEO Andrew N. Liveris called 2005 the company's "best year ever" with operating profits of $5.4 billion, a jump of 56.5% compared with the previous year. Notes Advocacy Further reading | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
| |