E I Du Pont De Nemours Co Inc

DuPont Co. said it was stopping sales of its controversial fungicide Benlate, which has been at the center of hundreds of lawsuits and cost the company more than $1 billion in litigation expenses. DuPont, the nation's largest chemical company, said the move to stop selling the fungicide by the end of the year was not a product recall but a "voluntary business decision" based on financial and legal problems associated with Benlate.

DuPont Co., the third-biggest U.S. chemical maker, said fourth-quarter profit excluding one-time items rose as increased sales of seeds and chemicals in emerging markets more than made up for weak demand from domestic home builders and automakers. Net income fell to $545 million, or 60 cents a share, from $871 million, or 94 cents, a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, profit rose to 57 cents a share from 45 cents a year earlier. The results topped the 50-cent average analyst estimate.

In a move that could dramatically enhance the role genetics play in world food production, chemical giant DuPont Co. said Monday it would buy leading seed producer Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc. in a $7.7-billion deal. The two companies signed a definitive agreement calling for a cash-and-stock merger that would give DuPont a new wholly owned unit with $5 billion in annual sales and a global marketing force devoted to the most fundamental of all agricultural products--seeds.

Chemical maker DuPont Co. is cutting 1,500 jobs as it restructures its agriculture and nutrition division, putting the $100 million it expects to save into its seed business, where it is in an increasingly tough battle with rival Monsanto Co. Monsanto has improved its dealer network, taking market share from DuPont's Pioneer Hi-Bred seed division in the important corn seed market. It is expected to continue to do so.

For home cooks and professional chefs, Teflon might be the best kitchen innovation since sliced bread became a cliche. A pan with the nonstick coating makes easy-to-lift omelets and cleans up like a dream. The concept of a cooking surface so smooth that nothing sticks has even leapt into the political lexicon. An American leader who weathered scandal and criticism became known as the Teflon president.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. said it has signed an agreement with two subsidiaries of Du Pont Co. for joint development of materials for use by the electronics industry.

A group claiming to be victims of Benlate fungicide poisoning urged consumers Friday to boycott products made by E.I. Du Pont de Nemours & Co. Benlate Victims Against Du Pont, a group that includes farm workers, environmentalists, scientists and government officials, criticized Du Pont for its failure to compensate users of the company's Benlate fungicide. Du Pont said in a statement that its Benlate fungicide was not responsible for either crop losses or human health problems. On Nov.

An affidavit filed in a case stemming from a $10-million attempted extortion of Du Pont Co. shows stolen documents detailed company secrets for its spandex fiber. In the affidavit filed in U.S.

Here, in a densely populated border city across the Rio Grande from Brownsville, Tex., the name of an infamous locale in India is heard with stunning frequency. "We don't want to be the next Bhopal," said Erasmo Lucio Garza, referring to the site of the 1984 toxic gas leak at a Union Carbide subsidiary that left almost 3,000 dead and 200,000 injured in the world's worst industrial accident.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday charged DuPont Co. -- one of the world's largest chemical companies -- with illegally withholding evidence for 20 years that a chemical used to make Teflon endangered its workers and the public. The federal agency accused DuPont of "multiple failures" from 1981 to 2001 to report information that perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, posed "substantial risk of injury to human health or the environment," including a risk of birth defects.

Chemical maker DuPont Co. said it planned to cut 1,500 jobs and close four facilities in Europe in a restructuring of its performance coatings business. DuPont executives said the restructuring would reduce annual costs by about $165 million. The Wilmington, Del.-based company anticipates taking a pretax charge of as much as $165 million in the first quarter. The company also raised its profit guidance for the first quarter and the year.

For home cooks and professional chefs, Teflon might be the best kitchen innovation since sliced bread became a cliche. A pan with the nonstick coating makes easy-to-lift omelets and cleans up like a dream. The concept of a cooking surface so smooth that nothing sticks has even leapt into the political lexicon. An American leader who weathered scandal and criticism became known as the Teflon president.

DuPont warned Wednesday that its fourth-quarter earnings would be less than half of what it had predicted because of the effects of last year's Gulf Coast hurricanes, worse-than-expected business performance and higher raw-material costs. The company also predicted that raw-material costs would rise further in 2006. The news sent Wilmington, Del.-based DuPont's stock down more than 3%. DuPont CEO and Chairman Charles O. Holliday Jr.

Chemical giant DuPont Co. will pay the largest administrative fine in the history of the Environmental Protection Agency to settle charges that it hid information for more than 20 years indicating that a compound used to make Teflon poses a substantial threat to human health. Without admitting any guilt or liability, DuPont has agreed to pay $16.5 million, including a $10.

A federal appeals court in San Francisco on Monday reinstated a string of racketeering suits that charge chemical giant DuPont with hiding evidence about a widely used fungicide so it could settle crop-loss cases on the cheap. The ruling by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals was a victory for six nursery operators in Hawaii and a setback for E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co., which has paid $1.

Lockheed Martin Corp. said Tuesday that first-quarter profit rose 27% after margins widened in space and aircraft programs. The company raised its 2005 sales and earnings forecasts. Net income climbed to $369 million, or 83 cents a share, from $291 million, or 65 cents, a year earlier, the Bethesda, Md.-based company said. Sales rose 1.7% to $8.5 billion, the smallest gain in three years.

DuPont Co., the second-largest U.S. chemical maker, accused home furnishings chain Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. of selling oven mitts that violate DuPont's trademarks on fibers used in the protective gloves. In a trademark infringement lawsuit, DuPont claims that Bed Bath & Beyond, the largest U.S. home furnishings retailer, and John Ritzenthaler Co., which makes the mitts, used DuPont's Kevlar and Nomex names without permission.

Claims by growers that they were victims of racketeering by DuPont Co. when they settled crop damage claims in the 1990s were discarded by a federal judge in Miami in a major legal victory for the chemical maker. The decision by U.S. District Judge Alan Gold on allegations that DuPont engaged in a high-level cover-up of a defective fungicide, coupled with earlier rulings dismissing fraud and all other claims, could end the cases, but an appeal is expected.

DuPont Co., the second-largest U.S. chemical maker, accused home furnishings chain Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. of selling oven mitts that violate DuPont's trademarks on fibers used in the protective gloves. In a trademark infringement lawsuit, DuPont claims that Bed Bath & Beyond, the largest U.S. home furnishings retailer, and John Ritzenthaler Co., which makes the mitts, used DuPont's Kevlar and Nomex names without permission.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday charged DuPont Co. -- one of the world's largest chemical companies -- with illegally withholding evidence for 20 years that a chemical used to make Teflon endangered its workers and the public. The federal agency accused DuPont of "multiple failures" from 1981 to 2001 to report information that perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, posed "substantial risk of injury to human health or the environment," including a risk of birth defects.