Dow Corning sponsors Sustainable Innovation with Silicones award in Latin America

Dow Corning is sponsoring the first award of its kind to honor the contributions of the cosmetic technical community in Latin America. The winner of The Dow Corning Award for Sustainable Innovation with Silicones will be announced at COLAMIQC XIX, the 19th Latin American Congress on Cosmetic Chemists, in Guayaquil, Ecuador, Oct 25-29, 2009.

“The new award is both innovative and exciting because it focuses on work conducted by members of the Latin American cosmetic chemist community,” said Paulo Sevilha, Latin American commercial manager for Dow Corning’s Life Sciences business. “This award further showcases Dow Corning’s ongoing commitment to advancing science and technology by integrating innovation with sustainability.”

Dow Corning’s award recognizes the best technical submission, either an oral presentation or poster, that describes the use of silicone combined with themes related to sustainable chemistry or cosmetology. It is intended to promote technical studies of the personal care applications of silicones, and to illustrate the importance of formulating for performance as well as sustainability. Any paper submitted to the congress that covers these topics is automatically eligible for the award.

“Silicones have been used safely and successfully in personal care and cosmetic products for more than 50 years,” said Stephen Gosney, Dow Corning’s global Beauty Care industry director. “Many of the most unique sensory and performance qualities of leading beauty and personal care products directly result from the use of these versatile materials. Besides delivering distinctive performance-enhancing benefits, silicones can offer a more environmentally sound alternative to organic compounds and other chemicals.”

The award winner will be announced at the closing dinner of the congress. A cash prize of $1,000 USD will be awarded for the winning paper or poster. More information and a complete description of rules are available at http://www.dowcorning.com/content/personal/colamiqc_2009_award.aspx.

About Dow Corning
Dow Corning (www.dowcorning.com) provides performance-enhancing solutions to serve the diverse needs of more than 25,000 customers worldwide. A global leader in silicones, silicon-based technology and innovation, Dow Corning offers more than 7,000 products and services through the Dow Corning® and XIAMETER® brands. Dow Corning is a joint venture equally owned by The Dow Chemical Company and Corning, Incorporated. More than half of Dow Corning’s annual sales are outside the United States.

About Dow Corning Beauty & Personal Care
Dow Corning’s performance enhancing materials for skin care and hair care products go beyond silicones to provide consumers with a unique sensory experience before, during and after application. Recent innovations include rheology modifiers, emulsifiers, highly efficient thickeners and sebum absorbers, cosmetic powders, sun care formulations and naturally derived solutions such as soy waxes.

To learn more about Dow Corning’s commitment to sustainability, visit www.dowcorning.com/sustainability.

To learn more about Dow Corning’s solutions for the personal care market, visit www.dowcorning.com/personal.