Becton Dickinson

Becton Dickinson (BD) (NYSE: BDX), is a medical technology company that manufactures and sells medical devices, instrument systems and reagents. Founded in 1897 and headquartered in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, BD employs 27,000 people in nearly 50 countries. The company's customers include healthcare institutions, life science researchers, clinical laboratories, industry and the general public. The company was started by Maxwell Becton and Fairleigh S. Dickinson.^[1] In fiscal year 2006, BD revenues grew 8% to $5.83 billion worldwide.^[2]

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Products

BD is comprised of three business segments: BD Medical, BD Diagnostics and BD Biosciences. BD Medical sells medical devices. BD claims to have built the first-ever manufacturing facility in the U.S. to produce syringes, needles, and thermometers in 1906.^[3] BD Medical posted revenues of $3.2 billion in fiscal 2006.^[2] BD Medical produces Medical Surgical Systems, Diabetes Care products, Ophthalmic Systems and Pharmaceutical Systems. BD Ophthalmic Systems markets products for ophthalmic surgery through its Xstar, Beaver and Visitec brands. These products include Ophthamic Safety blades and Atomic Edge, opthalmic blades.

BD Diagnostics sells specimen collection and transport services and laboratory testing equipment. The segment is composed of two operating units: Preanalytical Systems, sample collection, and Diagnostic Systems, microbiology testing products and molecular assays. BD Diagnostics posted revenues of $1.76 billion in fiscal 2006.^[2] BD Diagnostics produces Diagnostic Systems and Preanalytical Systems. BD Biosciences sells research and clinical tools to life scientists and clinicians. BD Biosciences posted $877 million in revenue in fiscal 2006.^[2] BD Biosciences consists of: Discovery Labware, Immunocytometry Systems and Pharmingen.

On February 14, 2006 BD announced its acquisition of GeneOhm Sciences, Inc.^[4], a company that develops diagnostic testing for bacteria, for $230 million and up to $25 million in additional incentives.

Environmental record

Based on year 2000 data,^[5] researchers at the Political Economy Research Institute of the University of Massachusetts Amherst identified Becton Dickinson as the 38th-largest corporate producer of air pollution in the United States, with roughly 640,000 pounds of toxic chemicals released into the air in that year.^[6] The major pollutant indicated by the study is diisocyanates. ^[7] The Environmental Protection Agency has named Becton Dickinson a potentially responsible party in at least nine Superfund toxic waste sites.^[8]

The BD Discardit II incident in Poland, 2007

In mid 2007, the firm's "BD Discardit II" series of syringes numbered 0607186 was withdrawn from hospitals and other medical services around Poland, about half a year after the discovery of remains of insects and dark dust in some syringes which were alleged to have been from this series.^[9] The newspaper Dziennik Online claimed that other series such as 06022444, 0603266 and 0607297 were also suspected of being contaminated. Legal proceedings related to the incident started in December 2006 and as of August 2007 were still continuing.^[9]

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