Agriculture and chemical companies like DuPont , Dow Chemical and BASF are all ridding themselves of their drug divisions.

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The German chemical giant BASF is working on a toothpaste that will not only resist tooth decay--the familiar ad slogan--but reverse it by rebuilding tooth enamel.

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Russian security software giant Kaspersky Lab said Wednesday that it signed a five year deal with multinational chemical company BASF to supply enterprise security software for 100, 000 end points worldwide.

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ExxonMobil is now also pushing against proposed reforms to TSCA contained in the Safe Chemicals Act of 2011, a move that, perhaps surprisingly, pits it against several other large chemical manufacturers such as Dow Chemical and BASF Corporation.

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Where it was struggling in North America, the world's largest chemical market, BASF has streamlined operations, closing old plants, acquiring a slew of new businesses and cutting the number of employees by 15%.

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In Germany, where half the gross domestic product comes from exporting companies such as Siemens, chemical makers like BASF or carmakers like Volkswagen and Porsche, hard-to-find skilled workers with training and certain qualifications are valued over temporary staff.

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DuPont competes chiefly with other corporate giants like Dow Chemical, Monsanto, BASF and Huntsman Corp.

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Chemical giants like DuPont and BASF are eyeing apparel in a big way.

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Dupont competes with other diversified industrial and chemical companies like Dow Chemicals , 3M Company and BASF.

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