Dow Chemical Shareholder Proposal Agenda Item #5
Policies on Dioxin and Persistent Toxics :

Whereas:

Some of Dow's operations and products result in the production and/or release of persistent bioaccumulative toxic (PBT) compounds during their life cycle, notably dioxin.

Dow’s Midland, Michigan headquarters currently has regulatory permits to release dioxin to air, land and water. The surrounding city and watershed are contaminated with dioxin, with levels detected in the floodplain downriver, as high as 80 times the state's residential cleanup standard.

According to several scientific agencies, including the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry:

• Dioxin is harmful in miniscule amounts and has been linked, in animal studies, to endometriosis, immune system impairment, diabetes, neurotoxicity, birth defects, miscarriages, various harms to reproductive system functioning, and cancer.
• Dioxin can affect insulin, thyroid and steroid hormones.
• Developing babies are considered most susceptible to many of these dangers.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s draft dioxin reassessment suggests that some people may be harmed at levels of dioxin currently found in human bodies, and identified potentially highly exposed groups including nursing infants, consumers of contaminated fish or livestock, and residents near dioxin sources.

US and Canadian governments have signed the Great Lakes Water Quality
Agreement, establishing a goal to "virtually eliminate the input of persistent toxic substances [to the Great Lakes]" using the philosophy of "zero discharge."

More than 150 nations have signed the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP’s) that, once ratified, would commit ratifying countries to eliminate certain intentionally produced POPs and ultimately eliminate certain POPs byproducts (including dioxin) where feasible.

Dow's Environmental, Health and Safety policy includes a commitment to
"prevention of adverse environmental and health impacts," and Dow has recognized the importance of PBT reduction through its 2005 environmental goals.

RESOLVED: Shareholders request that the Board of Directors issue a report by October 2003, at reasonable cost and excluding confidential information, summarizing the company's plans to remediate existing dioxin contamination sites and to phase out products and processes leading to emissions of persistent organic pollutants and dioxins.

SUPPORTING STATEMENT:
Shareholders believe that such report should include:

• A list of current and future Dow Chemical products and waste treatment facilities creating or emitting dioxin or PBT's at any point in their life cycle.
• Timetables and benchmarks to meet phase-out goals of the treaties.
• Annual expenditures for each year from 1995-2002 summarizing funds spent on attorney's fees, expert fees, lobbying, and public relations/media expenses relating to the potential health and environmental consequences of dioxin releases or exposures at all Dow sites, as well as actual expenditures on remediation of dioxin contaminated sites.
• A list of the company's major reservoir sources of dioxin (concentrated deposits in the environment which may disperse into the ambient environment) at Dow-owned facilities in the US and globally.
• A description of any major controversies involving community and environmental stakeholders concerning the remediation of particular sites including Michigan, and reasonable projections of any material liabilities for cleanup or otherwise related to the contamination.