Dow Corning Donates To Effort For Developing World Children's Glasses

Midland-based Dow Corning Corp. said Wednesday that it had donated $3 million in cash and materials to Oxford, England-based Centre for Vision in the Developing World to launch an initiative called Child Vision.

The Child Vision initiative will design, manufacture and distribute a child-specific version of self-adjustable eyeglasses to children in the developing world. The aim is to increase the effectiveness of classroom-based education by improving children's ability to see the blackboard from which they are being taught.

"There are 100 million children or more in the developing world who need glasses to benefit fully from their education in the classroom. This problem arises principally because there are too few eye care professionals in the developing world," said Oxford University physicist Josh Silver, founder and director of the CVDW, and inventor of the world's first universal fluid-filled adjustable eyeglasses. "Through this collaboration with Dow Corning, CVDW can now expand our efforts to provide eyeglasses to the children who need them for their education."

The goal of the CVDW is to improve vision for people in the developing world who lack access to adequate vision correction.

"This collaboration between Dow Corning and the Centre for Vision in the Developing World will combine our expertise to help bring improved vision correction to children in desperate need," said Stephanie A. Burns, chairman and CEO of Dow Corning.

Through Child Vision, Dow Corning will work with the CVDW to explore how self-adjustable eyeglasses can be designed specifically for the needs of children so that the glasses are able to withstand daily use, are light weight and look more appealing, which will increase the likelihood that they will be worn. Another key element of the initiative will be to ensure the design can be scaled up to mass-production levels, which includes lowering the cost of production.

"Dow Corning fluids played a critical role in Prof. Silver's pioneering self-adjustable glasses, which have already provided vision correction to approximately 40,000 people in more than 20 countries," said James Stephenson, Dow Corning global health care marketing manager and leader of the Child Vision initiative at Dow Corning. "We are excited to further our relationship with the CVDW and to see how our silicon-based technologies can now improve vision correction and the quality of life for children in the developing world."

To learn more about Child Vision, visit dowcorning.com/childvision.

Silver's original self-adjustable glasses contain special lenses composed of clear membranes that are filled with Dow Corning silicone fluid. By adding or removing fluid via a removable syringe and dial attached to the glasses' frame, wearers can modify the curvature of the lenses and therefore the strength of their glasses. The glasses are designed to provide correction for myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness) and presbyopia (inability to focus on near objects).

Dow Corning provides more than 7,000 products and services to more than 25,000 customers worldside. It is equally owned by Midland-based Dow Chemical Co. and New York-based Corning Inc.