Baxter Named to Dow Jones Sustainability Index for Tenth Consecutive Year

DEERFIELD, Ill., September 5, 2008 – Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX) announced today that it has been named 2008 Medical Products Industry Leader of the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSI World) and the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index (DJSI North America). This marks the tenth consecutive year that the company has been listed in the DJSI and the seventh year the company has been named Medical Products Industry Leader since the launch of the DJSI in 1999.

Baxter’s leadership position resulted from best scores across a number of performance areas including bioethics, codes of conduct, environmental policy/management, occupational health and safety, and social and environmental reporting.

“We believe our efforts in sustainability enhance shareholder value by making Baxter a more competitive company," said Robert L. Parkinson, Jr., Baxter's chairman and chief executive officer. "Baxter’s approach to sustainability inspires innovation and discipline, and reflects the quality of our people and our company culture.”

The Dow Jones Sustainability indices, derived from the Dow Jones Global Index, are the world's first benchmarks tracking the financial performance of leading sustainability-driven companies worldwide. The DJSI World Index tracks the financial performance of the top 10 percent of the 2,500 largest companies in the Dow Jones Global Index in terms of social, economic and environmental performance. The DJSI North America Index includes the top 20 percent in each of 57 sectors out of the largest 600 North American companies in the Dow Jones Global Index.

In addition to Baxter's inclusion in the DJSI, the company has been recognized by Innovest Strategic Value Advisors as one of the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World and by Corporate Responsibility Officer magazine as one of the 100 Best Corporate Citizens in the United States. Baxter is a member of the Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College, the Business Environmental Leadership Council of the Pew Center on Global Climate Exchange, the Chicago Climate Exchange, the U.S. EPA's Climate Leaders, the Ethics & Compliance Officer Association and Hospitals for a Healthy Environment. Baxter endorses the Ceres principles and is an organizational stakeholder of the Global Reporting Initiative.

Baxter International Inc. develops, manufactures and markets products that save and sustain the lives of people with hemophilia, immune disorders, cancer, infectious diseases, kidney disease, trauma, and other chronic and acute medical conditions. As a global, diversified healthcare company, Baxter applies a unique combination of expertise in medical devices, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology to create products that advance patient care worldwide.