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KEYCODE BAYER #15

various articles, July 1999

Indian farmers visit BAYER

500 Indian farmers traveled to Cologne for the G8 economic summit. They were part of an international protest against an unjust economic system. On June 18, 1999 the Indians demonstrated in front of the BAYER headquarters in Leverkusen together with 300 German supporters. They demanded protection of local markets, withdrawal from genetic engineering research and a ban on pesticides.
The COALITION AGAINST BAYER-DANGERS (CBG) planned the demonstration.

Poison for Latin America

200,000 people have been poisoned in Germany through the use of the
wood preservative XYLADECOR. BAYER sold its shares of DESOWAG, the manufacturer of XYLADECOR, 10 years ago to cover its participation in the questionable business. We have recently discovered that BAYER and DESOWAG are still marketing XYLADECOR together in Latin America - with risky ingredients that aren't contained in the same product that is sold in Germany.
The German companies presented XYLADECOR at the agricultural trade fair AgroExpo in Bogota, Columbia as a wood preservative that can be used against mould and termites. The active ingredient in Xyladecor is the controversial Pyrethroid Cyfluthrin. The American Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers Cyfluthrin "extremely toxic" and have entered it into their list of the 50 most dangerous pesticides. The dangerous ingredient is not used in the same product in Europe - a typical case of double security standards. The manufacturers obviously assume that the authorities and the general public in South America will not be as careful as those in Europe.

BAYER the winner of the Asian crisis

Global players such as BAYER are using the Asian crisis to strengthen their market position in the affected countries by purchasing shattered native companies or increasing their number of shares. This is how BAYER Indonesia recently bought all the shares in its previous sales partners. BAYER also profited from the financial difficulties of the Japanese pharmaceutical company SANKYO and purchased its shares in the previous joint venture BAYER-SANKYO CO. LTD. By buying out SANKYO in the joint venture, BAYER is now the second largest manufacturer of diagnostics on the Japanese market.

Lawyers for boycott of shares

"Don't buy BAYER!": American lawyers who are representing former forced labor in concentration camps in compensation claims against BAYER, BASF and 22 other companies, have asked stockbrokers to let their "conscience be their guide" and no longer trade the shares of said companies.

BAYER & Co. secure themselves a gene monopoly

BAYER is entering human genome research in a big way.
The chemistry multinational from Leverkusen has established a genome research consortium together with GLAXO WELLCOME, NOVARTIS, PHIZER, HOECHST MARION ROUSSEL and six other large pharmaceutical companies. The companies want to secure a knowledge monopoly of genetic codes in cooperation with the genetic engineering foundation WELLCOME TRUST, which was founded by the pharmaceutical giant WELLCOME. This will save them the great expense of purchasing of the research of smaller biotech companies. The gene cartel has a budget of 44 million dollars at their disposal. BAYER's chairman of the board, Dr. Manfred Schneider, announced that the company intends to be among the Top 5 global biotechnology companies within the next four or five years. According to Schneider, this goal cannot be achieved through internal growth. The company therefore intends to continue making million dollar deals such as BAYER's involvement in the American genome research company MILLENIUM.

Chrome in South Africa

One of the largest chrome factories in the world began production as a
joint company of BAYER and DOW CHEMICALS in Newcastle, South Africa. As a result, the multinational, which is the second largest chrome manufacturer in the world, is closing its chrome processing plant in Leverkusen, Germany. Due to the country's large chrome deposits, the company has processed this raw material in South Africa
since 1973, and it even has its own mine. The idea of an apartheid government apparently did not present any problems for the company. On the contrary, the government provided many blacks workers who were cheap and had no rights. The workers are exposed to many health risks during chromate production. The COALITION AGAINST BAYER-DANGERS received the first reports of illness such as respiratory illnesses, skin tumors and even cases of lung cancer from the BAYER workers who work at the plant in 1990.

The sanitation of Dhuennaue

Dhuennaue, BAYER's dump for the last decade in Leverkusen,
Germany, is the largest toxic waste dump in Europe. A hundred thousand cubic meters of chemical waste is stored only a few meters from the Rhine river and surrounding residential areas. This has led in the past to considerable harm to humans and the environment; there have even been a few deaths. Workers have been sanitizing the entire area for the past three years. Entire blocks of residential housing have been moved. The sanitation costs are presently over 200 million German marks; the taxpayers are paying one fourth of the costs.
No approval for METRIFONAT right now BAYER suffered a setback last year in the clinical testing of the Alzheimer preparation METRIFONAT in the USA. 20 of the test persons complained of sudden muscular weakness, and the American health authorities, the FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION (FDA), stopped the testing of the drug. As part of the admissions process for the medication, the FDA has now sent the chemical giant an "action letter" in which the authorities state that they will only approve METRIFONAT once the production methods and pharmacological effects have been changed. The value of BAYER stock dropped the next day, since this "blue letter" will considerably delay approval of the medication. The company withdrew the drug's approval application in Europe on its own accord.

Pesticides in fruits and vegetables

According to a study by the EUROPEAN UNION, 40 % of all probes from fruit and vegetables in 13 EU member states contain pesticide residues, and the normal limits have been exceeded in 3 % of the cases.
Scientists detected several ingredients that are contained in BAYER agricultural toxins such as Chlorpyriphos (RIDDER), Methamidophos (TAMARON) and Procymidone (SUMISCLEX WG).

Billion Mark investments in Asia

The chemistry multinational, which has its headquarters in Leverkusen, announced that it intends to invest eight billion German Marks in Asia by the year 2010. Two billion Marks are allotted to be invested in Japan, where the company suffered from 4 % sales losses in 1998. Asian shares in the companies turnover should increase in the future from 14 % to 25 %. BAYER intends to use 4.8 billion Marks of the investment sum to build new production centers, especially in China and Thailand, and one billion Marks will be available for company takeovers.

Three dead in an explosion

There was recently an explosion in the harbor of the BAYER subsidiary EC ERDOELCHEMIE in Dormagen, Germany. Three people died in the explosion and 10 other people were critically injured. The accident occurred while filling a tanker with gasoline. The explosion could be heard many kilometers away, and a giant cloud of black soot was visible. The air in the entire region was so full gasoline that the citizens could even feel it on their tongue. The authorities told the citizens to keep their doors and windows closed and alerted the Rhine river traffic.

Cooperation with Hong Kong University

In order to establish themselves even more in important markets, BAYER continually seeks to associate itself with renowned academic institutions in the relevant countries. The company has now entered an research and cooperation agreement with the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, which holds a leading position within Chinese scientific circles. As its first investment, the multinational has given the university money to build-up of its laboratories and purchase technical equipment.