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Exhibit 31.1

CERTIFICATION

I, Paul M. Montrone, certify that:



|1. |  | I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of Fisher Scientific
International Inc.;                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        
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|2. |  | Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement
of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the
statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements
were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this
report;                                                                         
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|3. |  | Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
information included in this report, fairly present in all material
respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of
the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;                                                                                            
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|4. |  | The registrants other certifying officers and I are responsible for
establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as
defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal
control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules
13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have:                                              
|  
|   |  | (a)  Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such
disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to
ensure that material information relating to the registrant, including its
consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those
entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being
prepared;
|  
|   |  | (b) Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused
such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our
supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of
financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external
purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;        
|  
|   |  | (c)  Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrants disclosure controls
and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the
effectiveness of the disclosure controls, as of the end of the period covered
by this report based on such evaluation; and                                                                                                          
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|   |  | (d)  Disclosed in this report any change in the registrants internal
control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrants most
recent fiscal quarter that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely
to materially affect, the registrants internal control over financial
reporting; and                                                                
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|5. |  | The registrants other certifying officers and I have disclosed, based on
our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting,
to the registrants auditors and the audit committee of registrants board
of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):                                                                                       
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|   |  | a)  All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or
operation of internal controls over financial reporting which are reasonably
likely to adversely affect the registrants ability to record, process,
summarize and report financial information; and                                                                                                     
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|   |  | b)  Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other
employees who have a significant role in the registrants internal control
over financial reporting.                                                                                                                                                                                                     

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|Date: |  | July 31, 2003 |  | By: |  | /s/ Paul M.
Montrone                                                         
|      |  |               |  |     |  |                                                                              
|      |  |               |  |     |  | Paul M. Montrone
Chief Executive Officer
Fisher Scientific International Inc.