Herculex® RW, Herculex I/RR2 Approved for Import into EU

INDIANAPOLIS and DES MOINES, Iowa - October 24, 2007 - The European Commission today announced it has granted full food, feed, processing and import approval of grain corn and derived products containing the Herculex® RW Rootworm Protection trait, as well as the stack of Herculex® I Insect Protection and Roundup Ready® Corn 2 (RR2), into the European Union (EU).

These products had previously been deemed safe by the EU's own independent scientific authority - the European Food Safety Authority - and have been approved in numerous other countries around the world already. This decision means grain with these traits is immediately approved for import as grain and processed products into the 27-nation EU.

With this EU decision and the approval of Herculex® I last year, grain with the Herculex® RW and Herculex® I/RR2 stack traits will no longer be sold under the Market Choices® certification mark, identifying products approved for food and feed use in the United States and Japan but not the EU, facilitating appropriate market-channeling.

Herculex® Insect Protection was developed through a research collaboration between Dow AgroSciences LLC and Pioneer Hi-Bred., a DuPont business.

"This is timely news for North American corn growers and the grain industry," said Ben Kaehler, Traits & Germplasm Licensing business leader for Dow AgroSciences. "This decision removes the last major overseas market restriction for these traits and frees exporters to market products with these traits around the globe. It also shows the growing acceptance of the safety and benefits of products developed through biotechnology."

"North American corn growers have quickly recognized the value of Herculex® and adopted it because it provides a broader spectrum of insect protection for their high-yielding hybrids," said Dean Oestreich, president of Pioneer. "This EU approval also clears the way for corn growers to purchase seed protected by Herculex® I and Herculex® RW, knowing they can plant it in 2008 without any grain channeling restrictions."

Herculex® I Insect Protection provides the broadest above-ground, in-plant insect protection available today against pests like European and southwestern corn borer, western bean cutworm, black cutworm and fall armyworm. Other above ground in-plant traits primarily protect against European and southwestern corn borer, making Herculex® I the broadest above-ground, in-plant corn protection on the market.

Herculex® RW is the first transgenic corn trait to express binary proteins - Cry34 Ab1 and Cry35 Ab1 - from a unique, newly discovered strain of Bt. It has proven through grower use and company and Extension field trials to provide excellent protection against three species of corn rootworm: western, northern and Mexican corn rootworm.

Another product offered in the U.S. market is Herculex®XTRA Insect Protection. The EU decision does not include Herculex® XTRA, nor the stack of Herculex® XTRA Insect Protection and RR2 traits. EU approval of these traits is expected in the near future.

Pioneer and Dow AgroSciences independently market and sell products with Herculex® traits - Pioneer within its own brand, and Dow AgroSciences through Mycogen Seeds, the retail seed brand of Dow AgroSciences. Dow AgroSciences also licenses Herculex® to nearly 160 seed companies within the United States.

Dow AgroSciences LLC, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, is a top tier agricultural company providing innovative crop protection, pest and vegetation management, seed, and agricultural biotechnology solutions to serve the world's growing population. Global sales for Dow AgroSciences, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company, are $3.4 billion. Dow AgroSciences and Mycogen Seeds are wholly owned subsidiaries of the Dow Chemical Company. Mycogen, the retail seed brand of Dow AgroSciences, markets grain corn, silage corn and nutritionally enhanced corn seed, as well as sunflower, canola, soybean, alfalfa and sorghum seed through an extensive network of dealers across the United States. Learn more at www.CornCentral.com .

Pioneer Hi-Bred, a DuPont business, is the world's leading source of customized solutions for farmers, livestock producers and grain and oilseed processors. With headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa, Pioneer provides access to advanced plant genetics in nearly 70 countries.

DuPont is a science-based products and services company. Founded in 1802, DuPont puts science to work by creating sustainable solutions essential to a better, safer, healthier life for people everywhere. Operating in more than 70 countries, DuPont offers a wide range of innovative products and services for markets including agriculture and food; building and construction; communications; and transportation.

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10/24/07

Contacts:
Dow AgroSciences LLC
Ben Kaehler
317-337-7546

Pioneer Hi-Bred
Jerry Harrington
515-334-6908