2.15.2006 ET

(CSRwire) MIDLAND, MI - The Dow Chemical Company recently recommitted its support to Responsible Care® when Dow President, CEO and Chairman-Elect Andrew Liveris signed the Responsible Care Global Charter, a document that goes beyond the original elements of Responsible Care to consider evolving challenges for the chemical industry. Dow also endorsed the Global Product Strategy, an effort by the global chemical industry to further improve its product stewardship efforts.

Global Charter Reaffirms Dow Support
Dow participated in the development of the Responsible Care Global Charter under the auspices of the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA). In signing the Global Charter, Liveris joins a growing number of other chemical industry CEOs who have reaffirmed their support of the vision and ethics of Responsible Care on a global scale. The Charter and Product Strategy are supported by Secretary General Kofi Annan in alignment with the environmental principles of the United Nations Global Compact, which seeks to promote responsible corporate citizenship.

Responsible Care is the global chemical industry‚s environmental, health and safety (EH&S) initiative to drive continuous improvement in performance. It achieves this objective by meeting and going beyond legislative and regulatory compliance, and by adopting cooperative and voluntary initiatives with government and other stakeholders.

"Responsible Care is an ethic and a commitment that seeks to build confidence and trust in an industry that is essential to improving living standards and the quality of life," says Liveris. "Since being a founding member of Responsible Care in the 1980s, Dow has actively practiced and promoted its principles and we strongly support the Global Charter."

"The Responsible Care Global Charter arose from an examination of chemical industry practices and performance that has evolved since the mid-1980s," says Larry Washington, corporate vice president, Sustainability and EH&S. "This Charter goes beyond the original elements of Responsible Care and focuses on new and important challenges facing the chemical industry and global society."

The Charter addresses topics such as the growing public dialogue over sustainable development, public health issues related to the use of chemical products, the need for greater industry transparency, and the opportunity to achieve greater harmonization and consistency among various national Responsible Care programs.

Global Product Strategy
As an extension of the Responsible Care Global Charter‚s emphasis on product stewardship, ICCA also developed a Global Product Strategy. This strategy guides the industry‚s long-term efforts to meet the global challenges to chemical products.

The Global Product Strategy includes development of guidelines for product stewardship; a tiered process for risk characterization and management; focus on downstream industry customers; exploration of intergovernmental organization partnerships; and greater transparency in product stewardship information. The Global Products Strategy was approved by the ICCA Board at its October 2005 meeting, and work to implement the strategy is currently underway. Dow also endorsed the Global Products Strategy, along with the Responsible Care Global Charter.

The Responsible Care Global Charter and the Global Products Strategy was launched February 2006 at the United Nations International Conference on Chemicals Management in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. For more information, go to www.icca-at-dubai.org.

Dow is a diversified chemical company that harnesses the power of science and technology to improve living daily. The Company offers a broad range of innovative products and services to customers in more than 175 countries, helping them to provide everything from fresh water, food and pharmaceuticals to paints, packaging and personal care products. Built on a commitment to its principles of sustainability, Dow has annual sales of $46 billion and employs 42,000 people worldwide. References to "Dow" or the "Company" mean The Dow Chemical Company and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise expressly noted. More information about Dow can be found at www.dow.com.

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