News Release

BAXTER'S MOUNTAIN HOME FACILITY RECOGNIZED
WITH OSHA'S TOP SAFETY AND HEALTH STATUS

OSHA's Voluntary Protection Program Recognizes Exemplary Worksites Across the Country


MOUNTAIN HOME, Ark., March 8, 2002 - Baxter Healthcare Corporation's Mountain Home, Arkansas, manufacturing facility has been recognized as a STAR worksite by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) Voluntary Protection Program (VPP). VPP is OSHA's premier partnership program designed to recognize worksites with exemplary safety and health programs, and to identify facilities that can serve as benchmarks for others.

"This distinction is a testament to Baxter team members, not only here in Mountain Home, but around the world," said Vick Crawley, general manager of Baxter's Mountain Home facility. "Health and safety is priority number one at all Baxter facilities. VPP is a vital program which we are proud to be a part of and we look forward to continuing the health and safety standards we have set here."

Bill Klingbeil, OSHA's regional VPP manager, said, "The people at Baxter's Mountain Home facility have demonstrated a commitment to protecting employees above and beyond what others in the industry are willing to do. Baxter recognizes the value of keeping their employees safe on the job. Because they care about their employees, it ultimately increases profits and makes the facility more productive."

Klingbeil also said that the safety procedures and processes in place at Baxter help put the facility 50 percent under the number of safety incidents reported annually in its industry. "They have a superior system for tracking, trending and analyzing safety data from the site to proactively prevent injuries and illnesses."

The VPP is designed to recognize and promote effective safety and health management by establishing a cooperative relationship between management, labor and OSHA. Participants in the VPP have demonstrated that an investment in the OSHA program is an effective allocation of resources. VPP sites experience fewer employee injuries and illnesses, reduced workers' compensation costs, improved productivity, improved employee morale, and recognition in the community. In addition, existing programs are improved through the internal and external reviews that are part of the VPP application process.

Baxter's Mountain Home facility, located in North Central Arkansas in the Ozark Mountains, opened in 1964 with 30 team members manufacturing intravenous devices and plastics in a 200,000 square-foot manufacturing and warehouse space. Today, the facility is operated by more than 1,600 team members in a 600,000 square-foot manufacturing, laboratory, warehouse, maintenance and office space.

Baxter's Mountain Home facility specializes in the manufacture of medical device products, including units that separate plasma components of human blood, instruments that allow kidney disease patients to administer dialysis at home, and intravenous products designed for delivering medicine and nutrition. The latest chemical, mechanical, and electronic technologies are used in Mountain Home, including nuclear source gauging, automated-assembly and testing, optical evaluation, automated packaging and palletization, computerized precision measurement, state-of-the art plastics blending, precision injection and blow molding, electronic data acquisition systems and electron beam sterilization.

In 2001, Baxter's Mountain Home facility was awarded the 2001 Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing, a prize administered by Utah State University recognizing manufacturers in the United States, Canada and Mexico that demonstrate excellence in manufacturing leading to superior customer satisfaction and business performance. Also in 2001, Baxter's Mountain Home facility was featured in Fortune magazine as one of "America's Elite Factories." Baxter's Mountain Home facility joins Baxter's McGaw Park, Ill., facility as an OSHA VPP STAR site, which has been a STAR facility for the past four years.

Baxter Healthcare Corporation is the principal domestic operating subsidiary of Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX). Baxter is a global medical products and services company that, through its subsidiaries, provides critical therapies for people with life-threatening conditions. Baxter's products and services in the areas of bioscience (including biopharmaceuticals, vaccines, biosurgery products and transfusion therapies), medication delivery and renal therapy are used by health-care providers and their patients in more than 100 countries.


FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

	Media Contacts: George Rafeedie, (847) 948-3675 Deborah Spak, (847) 948-2349 Investor Contacts: Neville Jeharajah, (847) 948-2875 Mary Kay Ladone, (847) 948-3371