4.12.2005 ET

(CSRwire) This periodic newsletter provides highlights of Baxter's recent sustainability performance. To learn more about the company's sustainability initiatives, please visit Baxter's sustainability portal on its corporate website. Among its features are stories of how Baxter impacts and interacts with its communities and stakeholders, data and reports regarding Baxter's performance across a broad spectrum of social, economic and environmental indicators, and convenient links to relevant company policies and resources.

The U.S. EPA Recognizes Baxter Healthcare Corporation as a Corporate Leader of its Performance Track Program
At a ceremony in Chicago this evening, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will recognize Baxter for its exemplary environmental performance. As one of the first three corporate leaders in this EPA program, the company was selected for its corporate-wide environmental leadership, including innovative practices, "beyond compliance" performance, management of supply chain and integration of environmental responsibility into business operations.

Baxter's Press Release

Baxter's Website Feature

EPA Information on Corporate Leaders Award

EPA Press Release

Baxter Recognized with 2005 H2E Champion for Change Award
Baxter was one of 12 organizations recognized by H2E as a 2005 Champion for Change. Champions for Change are organizations that actively promote H2E's programs and goals to their affiliated facilities (system members, customers, clients). Champions assist healthcare facilities to meet H2E's national goals: to virtually eliminate mercury from healthcare facilities, to reduce the total waste generated in the healthcare sector and to minimize the use of hazardous chemicals and persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic pollutants (PBTs). Champions for Change also work to improve their own environmental performance and serve as role models for other healthcare organizations. Champions also work with H2E staff to educate the healthcare sector and the general public about environmental issues in healthcare, and to create broad awareness of and support for the H2E program. H2E is a joint project of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the American Hospital Association, the American Nurses Association and Health Care Without Harm. Its goals are to eliminate the use of mercury in healthcare; to cut healthcare waste; and to phase out the use of hazardous substances and persistent, bio-accumulative and toxic chemicals in the healthcare sector. H2E is a voluntary program designed to help healthcare facilities enhance work place safety, reduce waste and waste disposal costs and become better environmental stewards and neighbors.
H2E Website

The Baxter International Foundation Health Services Research Prize for 2005 Awarded
David L. Sackett, OC, FRSC, M.D., has received this prestigious prize for revolutionizing thinking in medical practice, public policy, and academia regarding evidence-based medicine. Administered by the Association of University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA), this prize recognizes researchers who have made major contributions to the health of the public through innovative research in health services. Sackett established Canada's first Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics and chaired the Division of Internal Medicine at McMaster University, where he served from 1967 until he accepted a Chair at Oxford University in 1994. He developed and mentored a new breed of applied clinician-scientists and worked with them to create and disseminate the practice of evidence-based medicine throughout the world. His collaborative research teams were the first to validate the efficacy of aspirin and carotid endarterectomy for patients with threatened stroke, develop effective strategies for helping hypertensive patients take their medicine, and generate compelling evidence of the effectiveness of nurse practitioners. Dr. Sackett is founder and director of the Kilgore S. Trout Research & Education Centre at Irish Lake in Ontario, Canada and has received numerous awards for his educational and clinical work in health services research.
Baxter/AUPHA Press Release

Baxter and its Foundation Contribute More than $14 Million to Communities in Need
Baxter's charitable giving activities help address the financial and human resource needs of organizations around the world, and are making a meaningful impact to expand access to care where the need is greatest. Baxter's foundation contributed $2.6 million in worldwide grants and matching gifts programs, while Baxter product totaling $7.5 million was donated to underdeveloped nations and countries in crisis, in addition to approximately $4 million given by Baxter's businesses and facilities to address critical local needs.
Baxter's Press Release

Gretchen Winter, Baxter's Vice President of Business Practices and Chair of the U.S.-Based Ethics Officer Association (EOA) Talks to Financial Times about Corporate Ethics
In this recent Financial Times article that addresses the role of corporate ethics officers in light of recent corporate ethic scandals, there is discussion about how a company's code of ethics can be understood and followed by every employee and how and if to "police" executives' personal morals. Winter believes the role of an ethics officer is not to serve as a police function, but rather to act as a neutral party to whom employees can come for guidance. Read the Financial Times article from March 24, 2005 to learn more about viewpoints regarding the role of ethics officers and some of the ethical dilemmas facing corporations today.

Baxter Joins Stakeholder Workgroup with Nine Companies and Ten Union Representatives to Study Feasibility of Majority Elections for Corporate Directors
As part of the union-corporate agreement and in exchange for participation in a working group to address trade union concerns, building trade unions will withdraw majority-voting resolutions at ten major corporations, including Baxter.
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Baxter Named to the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World by Innovest Strategic Value Advisors
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Baxter Launches Online Survey to Gather Stakeholder Feedback
Stakeholder feedback on Baxter's sustainability activities and reporting is very important to us. Please take a few moments to Tell Us What you Think!

Baxter To Issue 2004 Sustainability Online and Printed Summary Report in August
Please visit Baxter's online sustainability report in August to learn about the company's 2004 social, economic and environmental performance. A print summary will be available to download from the website and print versions of the summary can be ordered through the site or by contacting Jodi_C_Hall@Baxter.com. The site is updated periodically so please check back often.

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