GLW Corning Inc

Dow Corning Emerges from Chapter 11 Today MIDLAND, Mich., June 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Dow Corning announced the company's emergence from Chapter 11 today. Recently, U.S. District Court Judge Denise Page Hood approved a motion that allows for the payment of undisputed commercial claims, removing one of the remaining obstacles to emergence. As a result, Dow Corning's Joint Plan of Reorganization, which received the support of nearly 95 percent of the claimants who voted for it, becomes "effective" today. "Dow Corning's emergence from Chapter 11 will allow us to focus squarely on what we do best -- providing products, services and business solutions to help our customers succeed," said Gary E. Anderson, chairman of Dow Corning. "We continue to explore high-potential applications for silicon materials and services in a wide variety of industries. We are actively developing innovations in photonics, solar solutions, silicon biotechnology(R), and other environment-friendly technologies." Anderson noted that in anticipation of emergence, the company took steps early on to establish a Settlement Facility to expedite payment to women with breast implants who wish to settle their claims. The Settlement Facility, located in Houston, was established under the Joint Plan of Reorganization, and is under the supervision of the court. It will begin this month to process and pay claims of those who elect to settle. "We're pleased with this resolution," said Anderson. "Although breast implants never represented more than 1 percent of our business, our company is often identified with them. We are confident that the science shows a clear picture today, through more than 30 independent studies, government and court- appointed panels and numerous court decisions, that breast implants are not associated with disease. Nevertheless, we are pleased to be able to put this issue behind us." Information on the settlement and options is available on line at http://www.sfdct.com/ , a website hosted by the Settlement Facility, and offered in seven languages, or by calling 866-874-6099 in the U.S. and Canada. About Dow Corning Dow Corning (http://www.dowcorning.com/ ) provides performance-enhancing solutions to serve the diverse needs of more than 25,000 customers worldwide. A global leader in silicon-based technology and innovation, offering more than 7,000 products and services. Dow Corning is equally owned by The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE:DOW) and Corning, Incorporated (NYSE:GLW). More than half of Dow Corning's annual sales are outside the United States. Silicone Breast Implant History of Key Events Introduction: The following is an abbreviated timeline reviewing the history of silicone gel breast implants including their development, the extensive testing of silicone for use as a biomaterial, the many scientific studies that have looked at the safety of silicone breast implants and many of the legal events that have unfolded during the past decades. A full timeline is available by calling Dow Corning at 989-496-8689. Date Event June 1, 2004 Dow Corning emerges from Chapter 11. May 2004 In U.S. District Court in Detroit, Judge Denise Page Hood orders the June 1 effective date. March 2004 Attorneys representing a group of 48 U.S. breast implant claimants from Nevada formally dropped their appeal of the $3.2 billion Joint Plan of Reorganization. The Nevada claimants' appeal, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, related to the provision of the Plan that releases Dow Corning's shareholders, subsidiaries and certain insurers from liability relating to Dow Corning's products. February 2004 Fourth Judicial Circuit of Florida concludes that there is insufficient scientific foundation to allow into evidence the testimony of plaintiff's expert witness regarding an alleged association between silicone breast implant and systemic diseases. There are now 22 court rulings in the U.S. excluding plaintiffs' disease allegations for lack of scientific evidence. February 2000 Settlement Facility is established in Houston, Texas to evaluate claims and compensate women with breast implants, as well as other claimants in accordance with criteria and payment levels specified in the Joint Plan of Reorganization. November 1999 Bankruptcy Court confirms Dow Corning's Plan of Reorganization. Various objectors, including Nevada claimants, appeal to the U.S. District Court. June 1999 Institute of Medicine (IOM) review of all silicone breast implant scientific research shows no connection between breast implants and disease. The IOM is the medical arm of the National Academy of Sciences, the United States' most prestigious scientific organization. This study was conducted at the request of the U.S. Congress. Official voting results indicate that U.S. women with silicone breast implants who voted on the Joint Plan accept it by an overwhelming majority (nearly 95%). December 1998 The 706 National Science Panel, appointed by Judge Sam C. Pointer, overseeing the Multi-District Litigation concerning breast implants, finds no proven links between silicone breast implants and diseases. November 1998 Joint Plan of Reorganization is filed with the Court. July 1998 European Committee on Quality Assurance and Medical Devices in Plastic Surgery states, "Studies continue to show that silicone gel-filled breast implants do not cause cancer. There are conclusive scientific clinical, immunological, epidemiological data that silicone gel- filled breast implants do not cause any auto-immune nor connective tissue diseases." British Government's Independent Review Group states that there is no conclusive evidence of a link between silicone breast implants and connective tissue disease, nor a link with abnormal immune response. This was the third such review by this group that reached the same conclusion. July 1997 The Australian Government's Therapeutic Devices Evaluation Committee states, "Several large studies have failed to establish a link between silicone breast implants and well-defined connective tissue diseases including Scleroderma." December 1996 Judge Robert E. Jones of the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon excludes testimony of breast implant plaintiffs' expert witnesses. Earlier in the year, Judge Jones appoints a panel of independent experts to analyze the plaintiffs' disease causation theory from several different scientific disciplines and concludes that the plaintiffs failed to make a sufficient case to take their disease causation claim before a jury. October 1996 In the U.S. District Court for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, Judges Weinstein and Baer conclude that the evidence presented by the plaintiffs' expert witnesses is insufficient to create even a triable issue as to whether silicone breast implants cause any systemic diseases claimed. February 1996 FDA Commissioner David Kessler makes the following statement, during an interview (Frontline on Feb 27, 1996 PBS-TV) about the association between silicone breast implants and connective tissue disease: "The good news is that there is not a large increased-risk, typical connective-tissue disease; the cause and effect is simply not there. I can't tell you that's not going to change in the future, but there is no evidence that supports the association between silicone and either typical or atypical connective tissue diseases. The scientific evidence just is not there to support that association." May 15, 1995 Faced with a total of 19,000 lawsuits, Dow Corning seeks protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. April 1992 FDA lifts the moratorium on silicone breast implants and makes the devices available again but only for breast reconstruction patients and patients needing to replace earlier gel implants and only upon the condition that these patients agreed to enroll in an ongoing clinical study. March 1992 Dow Corning announces a $10 million (which eventually exceeds $40 million) research program to continue studying the safety of silicone breast implants and other medical devices, and announces it will no longer manufacture breast implants and on April 14, 1992 withdraws its PMAA from consideration by the FDA. January 1992 Despite the FDA Advisory Panel recommendation that silicone breast implants remain available, FDA Commissioner Dr. David Kessler requests a "voluntary moratorium on the use of silicone gel breast implants until new safety data are reviewed." December 1991 Dr. Albert C. Kolbye, former Assistant U.S. Surgeon General, releases a report which analyzes 300,000 pages of safety data included in Dow Corning's Pre-Market Approval Application. He concluded: "The non-clinical and clinical studies reported establish that Dow Corning Wright's (the division of Dow Corning that made breast implants) breast implants are safe and effective." The verdict in the Hopkins case, San Francisco - CA, generated a lot of publicity and significantly increased the number of lawsuits against Dow Corning Corporation. December 1990 Sensational investigative television program (CBS: Face to Face with Connie Chung) features exclusively women who were dissatisfied with their breast implants, generating anger against breast implant manufacturers. 1980s & 1990s Like all medical devices, breast implants have always had some risk of complications. But, beginning in the mid-1980s, breast implants become a target for plaintiffs' attorneys theorizing a connection between the device and systemic disease. The first hypothesis is an alleged increased risk of breast cancer. When this proves untrue, they try to link breast implants with rare autoimmune illnesses. Again, this connection proves untrue, and plaintiffs' attorneys invent a new disease, variously referred to as "silicone adjuvant disease", "siliconosis", never accepted by mainstream medicine, and ultimately disproved. For more information on the various theories that were advanced by the plaintiffs' bar and their ultimate refutation, please refer to the addendum at the end of this document. 1963 Drs. Cronin and Gerow, with the assistance of Dow Corning, develop the first silicone breast implant, a marked improvement over previous implants which had been made of a variety of materials. History of Silicone Breast Implant Safety: 1980s - to the Present During the past twenty years, plaintiffs' attorneys have made a series of allegations that various illnesses were attributed to breast implants. However, a pattern developed in which these anecdotal reports and accusations were followed by scientific investigation, particularly human epidemiology studies, that soundly demonstrated no connection between breast implants and the alleged health effect. Then the major claims changed to a new allegation and the pattern repeated. During the 1980s, there were allegations that breast cancer risk might be higher for women with breast implants. However, concern began to subside when the first major relevant epidemiology study published in 1986, showed no greater incidence of breast cancer for the implant recipients of Los Angeles County. Several other studies followed. These consistently found that women with breast implants are not more likely to develop breast cancer. Studies also showed that in cases where breast cancer did occur, tumor detection was generally not delayed and women with breast implants lived as long as those without. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, there were anecdotal reports and allegations in the medical and legal communities of an association between breast implants and autoimmune connective tissue diseases such as Scleroderma, Lupus and Rheumatoid Arthritis. Soon human epidemiology studies of these hypothetical connections began. By 1994, nine major studies conducted at prestigious medical and research institutions had been published. No significant increase in autoimmune disease was observed in any of these studies. This conclusion of no association between silicone breast implants and connective tissue diseases has been repeated in numerous major studies published in the following years. By the mid-1990s the accusations by plaintiffs' attorneys again changed from classical connective tissue diseases, with their defined medical criteria, to a new disease invented by plaintiffs' attorneys and their experts -- so-called "siliconosis" or "silicone related disease," whose massive constellation of symptoms made scientific study challenging. However, since 1997, studies of patients with symptoms of atypical diseases have not found a connection with silicone breast implants. The studies also consistently showed no connection between breast implants and Fibromyalgia or other rheumatic complaints. By the end of the 1990s there were three principal scientific panels that put these allegations to rest: the 706 science panel appointed by U.S. District Judge Sam C. Pointer overseeing breast implant multi-district litigation; the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Panel; and the Independent Review Group, formed at the request of the UK Minister of Health to review the evidence relating to the possible health risks associated with silicone gel breast implants. The 706 Panel, comprised of experts chosen specifically for their prominence in their fields and their complete impartiality, produced a scholarly report. Portions of which have been expanded into more detailed scientific manuscripts published in peer-reviewed journals. At the request of the U.S. Congress, the IOM, a part of the National Academy of Sciences and this country's most prestigious medical research organization, committed a year and a half to the study of silicone breast implant research and prepared a 600-page report on their results. Finally, the Independent Review Group studied the medical literature on silicone breast implants as the latest and most comprehensive of four reviews requested by the British Ministry of Health over a six-year period. All three of these prestigious panels reached the same conclusion that silicone breast implants do not cause either recognized systemic diseases or "atypical" disease symptoms as alleged by the plaintiffs' attorneys and their allied groups. Further details regarding the major breast implant health-effect allegations and the epidemiology studies that examined these are available in the independent report from the Division of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences, entitled Safety of Silicone Breast Implants (available online at http://www.nap.edu/books/0309065321/html ). DATASOURCE: Dow Corning Corporation CONTACT: Mary Lou Benecke (U.S.), +1-989-496-8689, Karen Heenan-Davies (Europe), +44-1446-723-498, or Liliana Ng (Asia), +852-2835-0387, all of Dow Corning Corporation Web site: http://www.dowcorning.com/ http://www.sfdct.com/ http://www.nap.edu/books/0309065321/html

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