Abbott Receives Sustainability Award for Continued Efforts to Protect the Environment in Illinois

Abbott Receives Sustainability Award for Continued Efforts to Protect the
Environment in Illinois
Abbott Recognized with the Illinois Continuous Improvement Award for Eighth
Time

ABBOTT PARK, Ill., Oct. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Abbott (NYSE: ABT) announced today
that it has received the annual Illinois Continuous Improvement Award for
environmental excellence. It is the eighth time Abbott has received the award
for its efforts to safeguard the environment and integrate sustainability
initiatives throughout its operations in Illinois.

"Abbott's efforts in Illinois are an important part of our broader work to
safeguard the environment through sustainable business practices across all of
our global operations," said Corlis Murray, vice president, Global Engineering
Services, Abbott. "We are taking a multi-faceted approach to minimizing our
impact on the environment; from the way we manufacture our products, to how we
manage our facilities, to engaging and involving employees in environmental
initiatives. We're looking across our businesses to find ways to do things
differently, which will improve the environment and strengthen our business
over the long-term."

Abbott was recognized for implementing 11 projects aimed at reducing carbon
dioxide (CO2) emissions and waste, and saving water and energy at its Lake
County, Ill. headquarters and manufacturing facilities. These initiatives
included:

-- Implementing a "green" roof that improves energy efficiency and
reduces
rainwater runoff
-- Reducing CO2 emissions by improving cooling efficiency at the central
information technology (IT) data center
-- Establishing a program to recycle employees' personal electronic
equipment
-- Eliminating more than 44 tons of waste annually by recycling packaging
material from incoming packages

-- Implementing changes to its manufacturing processes to reduce CO2
emissions by more than 5 million pounds per year and reduce the amount
of raw materials required for one process by more than 1 million
pounds
per year.

The Continuous Improvement Awards are part of the Illinois Governor's
Sustainability Awards program. Previously called the Governor's Pollution
Prevention Awards, the awards recognize businesses and organizations in
Illinois for significant achievements in protecting the environment through
sustainable business practices. The award is administered by the Illinois
Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC), a division of the Institute of Natural
Resource Sustainability at the University of Illinois.

Safeguarding the environment is an important part of Abbott's mission to
improve people's health and the company's efforts to be a leader in global
citizenship. Abbott has identified increased use of cleaner and renewable
energy, reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, water conservation and
limiting the impact of product packaging as environmental priorities. The
company has set measurable goals in each of these areas to track its progress.
All of Abbott's various health care businesses are examining their
manufacturing processes and needs, as well as their product packaging, to
develop environmentally friendly and sustainable approaches to help the
company meet or exceed these goals.

Abbott was recently named to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index and Dow
Jones Sustainability North America Index for the fifth consecutive year.
Abbott was one of just two U.S.-based companies in the pharmaceutical industry
category to be listed on both indices. The Dow Jones Sustainability World
Index ranks Abbott among the top 300 of the world's largest 2,500 companies,
based on an assessment of economic, social and environmental performance.

About Abbott
Abbott is a global, broad-based health care company devoted to the discovery,
development, manufacture and marketing of pharmaceuticals and medical
products, including nutritionals, devices and diagnostics. The company
employs more than 72,000 people and markets its products in more than 130
countries.

Abbott's news releases and other information are available on the company's
Web site at www.abbott.com.

SOURCE Abbott

Media, Ann Smith, +1-847-937-6123, or Kurt Ebenhoch, +1-847-936-9746, both of
Abbott