Dow Chemical to slash 5,000 jobs, close 20 plants

[Mugu]

By ERNEST SCHEYDER, AP

NEW YORK -Dow Chemical Co. said Monday it will slash 5,000 full-time jobs — about 11 percent of its total work force — close 20 plants and sell several businesses to rein in costs amid the economic recession.

The company, one of the largest chemical makers in the world, expects the moves to save about $700 million per year by 2010. Dow also will temporarily idle 180 plants and prune 6,000 contractors from its payroll.

Exactly which workers and plants will be affected is still being determined, a company spokesman said.

"We are accelerating the implementation of these measures as the current world economy has deteriorated sharply, and we must adjust ourselves to the severity of this downturn," Chief Executive and Chairman Andrew N. Liveris said in a statement.


http://money.aol.com/news/articles/_a/bbdp/dow-chemical-to-slash-5000-jobs-close-20/271203?cid=5">Complete article

[NOW tense]

1. Great 20 more super fund sites!

when will it end.

[asteroid2003QQ47]

2. May those at the helm of Dow die a horrible death!

"...it was Dow Chemical along with Monsanto and 34 other American companies that manufactured the chemicals, including Agent Orange, used by US forces during the American war on Viet Nam.

It is calculated that 82 million litres of deadly chemicals were sprayed over 10 years, destroying thousands of hectares of forest, destroying crops and roadside vegetation, and poisoning lakes and rivers in South Viet Nam.

Because of this, more than three million Vietnamese stretching into the third, post-war generation, now suffer from serious illnesses and severe disabilities. Thousands of others have died from chemical-related ailments

Agent Orange has also affected thousands of US, Australian, New Zealand, South Korean veterans who served in Viet Nam."
http://mailman.ngocentre.org.vn/pipermail/aowg/2007-June/000864.html

Nineteen million gallons of herbicide were sprayed on Vietnam between 1962 and 1971 in an operation code-named Ranch Hand, with the first spraying being personally authorised by President Kennedy. Agent Orange was the most commonly used of these herbicides which were sprayed by American forces in an attempt to destroy the jungle cover of their enemy, the Viet Cong.

And very effective it was too. Unfortunately the production process of one of the key ingredients of Agent Orange - 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid or 245T - was such that it was routinely contaminated with one of the most poisonous substances known to humanity - 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin or dioxin.

Effects of Exposure

Estimates suggest that between 2.1 and 4.8 million Vietnamese people were directly exposed to herbicides in the course of the war. But that's only the start of it: Many areas in Vietnam remain heavily contaminated by dioxin; people are daily exposed to this dioxin residue through breast milk, cow milk, and the consumption of contaminated meat and fish.

It is this dioxin residue that gave the film its name: "The Last Ghost of War". And it is a ghost with a horrible appetite: The effects of dioxin are numerous. The National Toxicology Program in the US has classified TCDD to be a human carcinogen. Dioxin has been scientifically associated with an array of human diseases including soft-tissue sarcoma, Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and chronic lymphocytic leukemia. There has also been a suggested association with a number of diseases in the children of those exposed to it, particularly spina bifida. A good summary of the current state of received medical wisdom in this area can be found at the Institute of Medicine's website.
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/01/389169.html.uk/en/2008/01/389169.html

[Ioo]

3. I guess the need for horrid dangerous chemicals is down. Is that good?

I mean if they are not making them, they are not dumping them in the environment.

[bdamomma]

4. kick