Dow Chemical Company
2030 Dow Center Midland, MI 48674 Phone: 517-636-1000 www.dow.com
The largest chemical company in the United States, and one of the largest in the world, Dow Chemical produces a broad array of plastics, chemicals, and pesticides. However, the future of plastics started looking a little less bright at the start of the decade when Dow posted a string of losses, the first in 10 years, in 2001 and 2002. Founded in 1897, the company first produced chlorine bleach and later became a developer of plastics. After a period making pharmaceuticals and other consumer plastics, Dow sold most of its consumer and pharmaceutical subsidiaries in order to concentrate once again on chemicals. Today, Dow supplies more than 3,500 products used for antifreeze, paint, and dry cleaning. In addition, Dow has expanded its agricultural biotech sector, which produces fungicides, herbicides, and insecticides, and increased its production of chemicals used in the packaging and automotive industries. In 2001, Dow acquired Union Carbide, another mammoth chemical company.
Dow seems to be a magnet for bad publicity. Claims that its Dow Corning joint venture’s silicone gel breast implants leaked led to a huge class-action suit against the company in the 1990s. Now, as the owner of Union Carbide, Dow is taking heat for its handling of the aftermath of the 1984 Bhopal poison gas disaster, which killed 8,000 people, and in the following years, killed some 20,000 more who were exposed to toxins. Most recently, Dow has been trying to avoid paying for a full cleanup of the Bhopal site; also, in 2002, Dow sued Bhopal victims who protested at its Bombay facilities for causing “loss of work.” Dow is also facing PR problems resulting from the allegation that its Cargill Dow joint venture is producing genetically modified foods without sufficiently notifying consumers of that fact.
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