might be slanted towards recent events . please try to keep recent events in historical perspective . june 2010 learn how and when to remove this template message rohm and haas company type subsidiary of dow chemical 1 industry chemical manufacturing founded september 1 1909 headquarters philadelphia pennsylvania usa parent dow chemical company website www.rohmhaas.com rohm and haas company is a manufacturer of speciality chemicals for end use markets such as building and construction electronic devices packaging household and personal care products . headquartered in philadelphia the company is organised into three business groups of specialty materials performance materials and electronic materials and also has two stand alone businesses of powder coatings and salt . formerly a fortune 500 company rohm and haas employs more than 17 000 people in 27 countries with its last sales revenue reported as an independent company at usd 8.9 billion . dow chemical company bought rohm and haas for 15 billion in 2009 . 2 contents 1 history 2 environmental record 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit rohm and haas corporate headquarters in 2007 . the company was founded in esslingen germany by dr. otto r hm and mr. otto haas in 1907 . haas moved to philadelphia and began the american side of the business on september 1 1909 from an office on front street while otto r hm remained in germany to run a company that would eventually become r hm gmbh . the american company grew rapidly as world war i approached because of their initial invention a synthetic substitute brand name oropon for fermented dog dung which was used for bating leather part of the old tanning process ; leather was needed for the war in large quantities for belts and saddles . the company again grew rapidly as world war ii approached as it manufactured plexiglas acrylic a transparent plastic which was needed for aircraft canopies . they sold this part of the business in 1998 to elf atochem now arkema . 3 in 1965 rohm and haas moved its headquarters from its washington square to a new building on independence mall a few blocks away . the new rohm and haas corporate headquarters was designed by pietro belluschi and george m. ewing co. 4 now ewingcole . in 1999 rohm and haas acquired the morton salt company . the main products of rohm and haas are specialty materials advanced chemistry that allows end use products to have a particular characteristic e.g. low odor water based paints sunscreens with greater spf functionality or more powerful semiconductor chips . on july 10 2008 rohm and haas announced it was being bought by dow chemical company for us 18.8 billion . rohm and haas will continue doing business under its name and will remain in its philadelphia headquarters . 5 dow chemical tried to back out of acquiring rohm and haas when a deal to form a joint venture with kuwait petroleum that would give dow money to buy rohm and haas failed . 6 on 2 april 2009 it was reported that morton salt was being acquired by german fertilizer and salt company k s for a total enterprise value of us 1.7 bn . the sale completed by october 2009 was in conjunction with the dow chemical company s takeover of rohm and haas . dow announced their intent to sell the rohm and haas powder division . environmental record edit on july 6 2004 the environmental protection agency charged rohm and haas with violating the clean air act after inspecting its facility in louisville kentucky . the agency claimed that the company failed to repair a deteriorated chemical storage tank failed to maintain a complete list of monitoring regulations and failed to remove accumulated hazardous wastes . 7 on february 12 2006 eleven workers were hospitalized after being exposed to fumes that leaked out of the rohm and haas corporation chemical plant in cincinnati ohio . 8 on february 15 2006 an employee died when working on a steam ejector due to the inhalation of hydrogen sulfide gas . 9 an investigation determined that since the sewer vent was plugged the hydrogen sulfide gas accumulated into large concentrations that became lethal . 10 on april 25 2006 rohm and haas and other defendants were sued in philadelphia for failing to prevent toxic spills to employ adequate groundwater practices and to warn residents of any potential presence of underground contamination . 11 this led to 18 filed cases of brain tumors and cancers among local residents of ringwood illinois . 12 as early as 1980 the company s mccullom lake factory located in mchenry county illinois underwent investigation for contamination of the town s groundwater . studies paid for by rohm and haas showed the groundwater never affected the town s well water . the company is now one of five corporations undergoing a class action lawsuit filed by the town s residents claiming a direct correlation to 31 out of 1 074 residents experiencing some type of brain or pituitary gland cancer . the northwest herald published a six piece investigative story on the lawsuits and residents claiming to reveal a blatant mishandling of the entire affair on the part of local health officials and rohm and haas . see also edit philadelphia portal monsanto co. v. rohm and haas co. list of companies based in the philadelphia area references edit james steve 2009 04 01 . dow chemical buys rohm and haas . reuters . christopher hinton 2008 07 10 . dow chemical to buy rohm & haas for 15 billion marketwatch . articles.marketwatch.com . retrieved 2012 10 08 . arkema inc. our history . 2007 . retrieved 2007 08 25 . clausen meredith l. 1999 . pietro belluschi modern american architect . mit press . p. 313 . isbn 0 262 53167 4 . desmond maurna july 10 2008 . dow chemical bonds with rohm & haas . forbes . jolly david 2008 12 29 . kuwait scuttles venture with dow chemical . the new york times . retrieved 2010 05 22 . u.s. v. rohm and haas chemicals inc. consent decree complaint pdf . 2004 12 29 . archived from the original pdf on 2008 05 10 . retrieved 2008 05 16 . 11 workers injured by leaking fumes at reading plant . news.enquirer.com . 2006 05 05 . retrieved 2008 05 16 . rohm and haas completes preliminary investigation hydrogen sulfide from sewer line believed to be source . ohiocitizen.org . 2006 05 05 . retrieved 2008 05 16 . rohm and haas . ohiocitizen.org . 2006 05 05 . retrieved 2008 05 16 . ringwood illinois cancer cases . layserfreiwald.com . retrieved 2008 05 16 . class action complaint pdf . layserfreiwald.com . retrieved 2008 05 16 . external links edit official website rohm and haas company history rohm and haas workers dead from brain cancer v t e philadelphia area corporations including the delaware valley list of companies based in the philadelphia area philadelphia based fortune 500 corporations rank in the 2015 list comcast 43 aramark 207 crown holdings 318 delaware valley based fortune 500 corporations rank in the 2015 list amerisourcebergen 16 dupont 87 lincoln national 223 universal health services 324 campbell soup 342 ugi 349 burlington stores inc. 500 other notable philadelphia based businesses amoroso s beneficial bank chemtura day & zimmermann fmc corporation independence blue cross pennsylvania real estate investment trust pep boys philadelphia media network radian group urban outfitters notable philadelphia based professional partnerships ballard spahr blank rome cozen o connor dechert drinker biddle & reath duane morris morgan lewis & bockius pepper hamilton saul ewing white and williams other notable delaware valley based businesses actua corporation airgas alliedbarton ametek aqua america asplundh bentley systems brandywine realty trust boscov s carpenter technology cephalon chemours christiana care health system crozer keystone health system david s bridal epam systems enersys hamilton lane liberty property trust penn mutual penn national gaming rita s italian ice sei investments slm sungard susquehanna international group vanguard toll brothers triumph group unisys viropharma vishay intertechnology vwr wawa wilmington trust w. l. gore and associates wsfs bank notable delaware valley based us headquarters of foreign businesses aberdeen asset management ace agustawestland astrazeneca delaware investments glaxosmithkline ing group keystone foods sap america siemens medical shire pharmaceuticals subaru teva pharmacueticals td bank notable delaware valley based division headquarters of us corporations acme cerberus capital management centocor johnson & johnson colonial penn conseco delmarva power exelon gsi commerce ebay hercules ashland mab paints sherwin williams mcneil laboratories j & j neoware hewlett packard peco exelon qvc liberty media rohm and haas dow chemical sunoco energy transfer tasty baking flowers foods retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title rohm and haas & oldid 743597806 categories manufacturing companies based in philadelphiacompanies established in 1909chemical companies of the united statesdow chemical company1909 establishments in the united stateschemical industryhidden categories articles slanted towards recent events from june 2010 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages deutschfran aisitalianosvenska edit links this page was last modified on 10 october 2016 at 10 01 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the 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