Bayer's Berkeley Site First in the Nation to Qualify for ISO 14001 Environmental Certification

Business Wire, May 1, 2000

Business Editors

BERKELEY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 1, 2000

Bayer Corporation's Berkeley site is the first in North America to meet one of the most rigorous international environmental standards in the world, Bayer officials announced today.

Bayer's Worldwide Bioechnology Center and Biological Products manufacturing facility has been certified as meeting the ISO 14001 standard, a comprehensive set of policies that ensures both a high level of environmental sensitivity now, and an ongoing process of continuous improvement.

"This is truly a milestone for our site, and for Bayer Corporation," said Site Manager Dick Thomas. "These standards go well beyond present environmental law, and this certification proves our ongoing commitment to operate this facility with the utmost care for our patients, our employees, our neighbors and our environment."

"Meeting the ISO standard was a true team effort," said Thomas Malott, Principal Environmental Specialist at Bayer Berkeley. "When we made the decision to pursue this standard, we put together a team to assess our environmental management system and make the necessary changes." After an initial audit last October, a list of observations was made and all of those were addressed in the final audit.

The Bayer Berkeley site is already the recipient of federal, state and local environmental awards. But the ISO 14001 certification means that the company can compete with other biotechnology companies in Europe, where it is expected that the ISO standard will be required.

ISO, or International Organization for Standardization, is a non-government federation of standards groups from more than 130 countries. All standards developed by ISO are voluntary and rigorous. The purpose of the Environmental Management Standard is to ensure that companies operating under the standard not only meet current regulations, but have a process in place by which systems are continuously evaluated and improved.

"Simply complying with environmental laws is no longer enough," Malott said. "We must continuously evaluate our operations and make positive changes in good faith, even in the absence of laws or regulations."

Bayer's Berkeley site manufactures Kogenate(R), Prolastin(R) and Thrombate III(R). It is also the Worldwide Biotechnology Center, responsible for the discovery, development, and process development of recombinant protein drugs and gene-based therapies. Both are part of Bayer Corporation's Pharmaceutical Division, headquartered in West Haven, Connecticut.

Bayer Corporation is a research-based company with major businesses in health care and life sciences and chemicals. The company had 1999 sales of $8.9 billion and employs approximately 22,200 people. Bayer Corporation is investing $9 billion in capital expenditures and research and development from 2000 through the year 2004. 2000 capital investment and R&D expenditures are projected to total $1.6 billion. Bayer Corporation, with headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is a member of the worldwide Bayer Group, a $29 billion international life sciences, polymers and specialty chemicals group based in Leverkusen, Germany.

For more information on the ISO Standards, please refer to the ISO website at www.iso.ch.

To arrange an interview with Bayer representatives in Berkeley, please contact Laura Rohde by pager at (510) 716-4098.