Dow AgroSciences Wins U.N. Award for Stratospheric Ozone Protection Efforts

MONTREAL — Dow AgroSciences a subsidiary of the Dow Chemical Company, has been named a winner of the United Nations’ Montreal Protocol Innovators Award at the annual meeting of the Montreal Protocol, an international agreement designed to protect the earth’s ozone layer.

The award honors the company’s innovation, investment and commitment to protect the environment through its efforts to develop alternatives to methyl bromide, an ozone-depleting substance being phased out under the Protocol.

At this meeting, which commemorates the 20th anniversary of the Protocol, Dow AgroSciences also was named a winner of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) “Best of the Best” Stratospheric Ozone Protection Award. This award honors an elite group of companies, organizations and individuals who have demonstrated long-term excellence in efforts to protect the stratospheric ozone layer.

Both awards honor the company’s long-standing commitment to providing critical alternatives to methyl bromide, an ozone-depleting substance used for pre-plant, post-harvest and structural fumigation uses. Dow AgroSciences products containing the active ingredients 1,3-dichloropropene and sulfuryl fluoride — which is the active ingredient in Profume gas fumigant — have been widely adopted on a global scale to coincide with the scheduled phase-out of methyl bromide.

“I am delighted that Indianapolis, Indiana-based Dow AgroSciences has been recognized for their continued leadership in developing technical and economically feasible alternatives to methyl bromide in accordance with this important international treaty,” said Sen. Richard Luger, R-Ind.

Other global leaders also applauded the company’s efforts.

“The European Union has been a leading proponent of the Montreal Protocol since its creation. The innovation shown by Dow AgroSciences to develop feasible alternatives to ozone-depleting substances has strongly contributed toward the attainment of the Protocol’s goals,” said Karl-Heinz Florenz, German Member of the European Parliament.

“These Dow products assisted in the rapid phase-down in methyl bromide when users in Europe switched to these alternatives,” said Tom Batchelor, a policy expert with Touchdown Consulting based in Belgium. Batchelor coordinated Europe’s phase-out of methyl bromide and other ozone-depleting substances when he worked for the European Commission, Europe’s executive arm responsible for implementing the decisions of the European Parliament and Council.

“This public acknowledgment illustrates how Dow is delivering on its strategy of utilizing technology to address critical issues facing society while creating growth opportunities for the Company,” said Jerome Peribere, Dow AgroSciences president and chief operating officer. “We are honored by this award which commends our company’s long history of being able to constantly introduce important soil, post-harvest and commodity fumigation products that can help growers around the globe have viable, available and cost-effective pest control options.”

“As an innovation-based company, we are making important progress toward the development of new soil and post-harvest fumigation tools that we believe will further assist our customers to meet their urgent market needs,” Peribere said.