New York, NY - July 14, 2005

Larry Washington, corporate vice president, Sustainability and Environment, Health and Safety (EH&S), The Dow Chemical Company, today addressed attendees at an Institute for Health and Productivity Management's executive summit on the Value of Health jointly sponsored by the Institute for Health and Productivity Management and the Conference Board held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City.

Washington's talk, entitled "The Long View: Health as a Corporate Strategy for Sustainability," described Dow's business case for employee health and how it formed the design and implementation of Dow's global Health Strategy. "We completed a business analysis of the Total Economic Impact of health to Dow, and as part of that we determined that we need to balance the interests of health outcomes, employee satisfaction and financial benefits of our strategy.

"We have found that a cross-functional approach to both the strategy and the implementation is essential. We also understand, as a global multinational corporation, that a health strategy cannot be one-size-fits-all. We know that health issues differ depending on many factors, so we know we need to address multiple cultural issues."

Washington also cited some examples of areas where Dow is taking an industry leadership position with regard to health. "We are very proud to note that our CEO, Andrew Liveris, is a visible and active participant in the Leading By Example CEO-to-CEO initiative that is being driven by Partnership for Prevention."

"We are taking a balanced approach. By emphasizing health AND quality, employees and retirees gain better health, Dow's cost structure improves and employees are more satisfied. Our strategy emphasizes waste reduction, not cost-shifting. The strategy also provides that employees and retirees have a large role in keeping down both their personal costs and the costs of the group. We are also making better use of data to drive our decisions and communications," Washington concluded.

Dow is a leader in science and technology, providing innovative chemical, plastic and agricultural products and services to many essential consumer markets. With annual sales of $40 billion, Dow serves customers in 175 countries and a wide range of markets that are vital to human progress: food, transportation, health and medicine, personal and home care, and building and construction, among others. Committed to the principles of sustainable development, Dow and its 43,000 employees seek to balance economic, environmental and social responsibilities. References to "Dow" or the "Company" mean The Dow Chemical Company and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise expressly noted.

For Editorial Information:

Jeannine Sohayda
The Dow Chemical Company
(989) 636-8485