Reprinted from:
http://www.cbgnetwork.org/
BAYER AG Profile
Large multi-national companies determine political policy in all areas of the globe. One of the largest in the "global game" is the Bayer AG. There isn't a country on Earth where BAYER is not active.
What Hitler didn't manage, Bayer, PCB and pesticides did.
The old "I.G. FARBEN" subsidiaries "BASF", "BAYER" and "HOECHST" dominate the German and European chemical industries and have a combined annual turnover of $ 90 billion.
No government, politician or institution can escape influence of this powerful bloc.
Any criticism of BAYER is principally criticism of multi-national companies in general and specifically of the chemical industry.
By the turn of the twentieth century, six German companies had emerged to dominate the world's production and distribution of synthetic dyestuffs. Both in Germany and abroad, these firms were recognized as the "Big Six." There were three very large enterprises:
Bayer (Farbenfabriken vorm. Friedrich Bayer & Co. of Leverkusen)
BASF (Badische Anilin und Soda-Fabrik of Ludwigshafen)
Hoechst (Farbwerke vorm. Meister Lucius und Bruening of Hoechst am Main)
Not far behind were three lesser concerns:
Agfa (Aktiengasettschaft fuer Anilanfabrikaten of Berlin)
Cassella (Leoplod Cassella & Co. of Frankfurt)
Kalle (Kalle & Co. of Biebrick).
The "wonders of chemistry" were once rashly applauded as "advances for the human race," but the dangers of chemical poison production have long become a hostage of modern times. No one can escape - we are all affected.
Criticism and remedies are the needs of the day.
Bayer's pharmaceutical venture is huge.
Out of its laboratories emerged Aspirin, the world's most famous home remedy for pain and fever. Bayer was also responsible for the introduction of heroin, which it sold as a cure for morphine addiction and as a cough suppressant, especially effective in children. Later the Bayer laboratories developed methadone, in preparation for World War II, as a synthetic substitute for morphine. It was originally named Dolophine, in honor of Adolf Hitler. Today methadone is used principally in the treatment of heroin addiction. The sulfa drugs also had their inspiration in the test tubes of Bayer's laboratories, as did Atabrine, the most effective malarial suppressant. Indeed, no hospital and no pharmacy can be found without some Bayer product.
BAYER's history extends well into the 19th century (I.G. FARBEN).
The company is identified with chemical warfare agents, and "medications" such as HEROIN (an early BAYER trademark), and for countless insecticides and household poisons.
The company only thinks of its own profits and continually works with dictators and war criminals - from Hitler to Pinochet.
BAYER head Carl Duisberg personally propagated the concept of forced labor during First World War. The idea was later warped to mass murder at the company's own IG FARBEN concentration camp, Monowitz.
I.G. FARBEN was heavy involved in the planning, preparation and implementation of both world wars. The International War Crimes Tribunal pronounced the company guilty for its share of responsibility in the war and the crimes of the Nazi dictatorship.
International War Crimes Tribunal ordered I.G.Farben to be shared into subsidiaries "BASF", "BAYER" and "HOECHST".
As Senator Homer T. Bone would say to a Senate Committee in 1943:
"Farben was Hitler and Hitler was Farben". Look for details further down.
The makeup of the American I.G. board of 1930, with Farben already five years into its preparation for war, tells the real story of the US-German network which was leading the world into yet another awesome conflict.
When the war ended, and the investigation into its background began, three German members of American IG board were found guilty at the Nurnberg War Crimes Trial.
IG Farben was the only German company in the Third Reich that ran its own concentration camp Monowitz.
At least 30.000 slave workers died in this camp; a lot more were deported to the gas chambers.
It was no coincidence that IG Farben built their giant new plant in Auschwitz, since the workforce they used (altogether about 300.000 people) was practically for free.
The Zyklon B gas, which killed millions of Jews, Gypsies, Germans, Polish and other people was produced by IG Farbenīs subsidiary company Degesch.
The depth of the partnership was reached at Auschwitz, the extermination center, where four million human beings were destroyed in accordance with the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question," Hitler's plan to destroy an entire people. Drawn by the almost limitless reservoir of death camp labor, I.G. close to build a great industrial complex at Auschwitz for the production of synthetic rubber and oil.
So enormous was this installation that it used as much electricity as did the entire city of Berlin. More than 25,000 camp inmates paid with their lives to construct it.
In Germany a growing number of people do not understand that IG Farbenīs successors Bayer, BASF and Hoechst still refuse to apologize for their misdeeds. It is hard to accept that after the war the companies were allowed to keep IG Farbenīs entire property, whereas the surviving slave workers received nothing. Until today Bayer, BASF and Hoechst did not pay any wages to their former workers, let alone any compensation.
In 1996 Hans Frankenthal, who survived two years in IG Farbenīs plant in Auschwitz, spoke to the stockholders. He demanded an apology and financial compensation - not only for himself, but for all of the surviving slave workers in Eastern Europe.
Bayerīs board did not react.
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Bayer is the world's leader in insecticides sales.
Today Bayer operates in some 150 countries with subsidiaries in 56. Generally, its operations are divided into four sectors: health, agriculture, polymers, and chemistry. Up to this point, Bayer has shied away from the first generation of transgenic crops.
BAYER produces Chemicals, Pesticides, Polymers and Pharmaceuticals.
Everyone knows BAYER's Aspirin, and many know BAYER's AUTAN.
Few know BAYER's PCB.
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PCB = PolyChlorinated Biphenyls
There is no place on Earth where this poisonous chemical is not found.
Bayer produced over 24,000 t of PCB.
Every single human being contain some PCBs.
This cancer causing agents bioaccumulate in the food chain and are mostly stored in the body fat of humans and animals that are at the top of the food chain: Polar Bears, Whales, Salmon, Trout, Sharks, Tuna, Baracuda and other predators.
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In (West-) Germany the Bayer AG produced PCB under the trade name 'Clophen' (A30 to A60). In 1972, the Bayer AG restricted their supply of PCB for use in closed systems (transformers, condensers, hydraulic fluid). Until then approximately a total of 23,000 t of PCB were used in "open systems". In Table 1 the production of PCB in Germany for the years of 1974 to 1983 is listed separately for the various degrees of chlorination. It shows that there was shift in production from higher chlorinated PCB to lower chlorinated PCB over the years. It also shows that the use of PCB in Germany remained more or less constant up to 1978 and then decreased continuously. It is interesting to note that the production of PCB increased until 1980 with an increased proportion going into export. In 1983, the last year of PCB production by the Bayer AG, 90% of the PCB produced was exported.
More here:
http://www.chem.unep.ch/pops/stpeter/stpete2c.html
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Some physical and chemical properties of the PCB made them suitable for a broad range of applications. Important characteristics are:
· Liquid at room temperature; density: 1.1821.566 kg/L
· Low water solubility; readily soluble in organic solvents
· High flash point: 170-380°C,
· Non-explosive
· Low electric conductivity
· Very high thermal conductivity
· Extremely high thermal and chemical resistance (very high stability).
In general, melting point and lipophilicity increase with increasing degree of chlorination; vapour pressure and water solubility decrease. Thus, all PCB are lipophilic and poorly soluble in water. Water solubilities for Aroclors were determined in the range from 0.00270.42 ng/L.
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Description of PCB's
PCB's are a class of chemicals known as polychlorinated biphenyls. They are entirely man-made and do not occur naturally. They were first manufactured commercially in 1929 by Monsanto, their sole U.S. manufacturer. They were used in many different types of products including hydraulic fluid, casting wax, pigments, carbonless copy paper, plasticizer, vacuum pumps, compressors, heat transfer systems and others. Their primary use, however, was as a dielectric fluid in electrical equipment. Because of their stability and resistance to thermal breakdown as well as their insulating properties they were the fluid of choice for transformers and capacitors. As a matter of fact, because of their fire resistance, they were required by some fire codes.
During the 1970's, the health risks associated with PCB's became a major consideration due to several well publicized incidents. The most noted of these is known as the Yusho Incident. It took place in Japan when a rice oil plant had an equipment leak of PCB fluid into the product. The rice oil was sold and consumed resulting in many people being adversely affected.
Among the health affects of PCB's are skin ailments called chloracne, reproductive disorders, liver disease and others. PCB's are human carcinogen and animal carcinogen. They are resistant to degradation and therefore persist for many years in the environment. Furthermore, they bioaccumulate in the foodchain and are stored in the body fat of animals and humans. Because of the health and environmental risks associated with PCB's, an Act of Congress, the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976, directed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ban the manufacture of PCB's and regulated their use and disposal. EPA accomplished this by the issuance of regulation in 1978. The State of Connecticut, however, banned the manufacture of PCB's and began regulating them effective July 1, 1976. Both EPA and Connecticut, although banning their manufacture, allowed equipment containing PCB's to continue in use for the remainder of their useful lives.
PCB contamination from historic uses and dumping is widespread throughout the U.S. and the world. Disposal into waterways has caused PCB contamination of rivers, oceans, soils and even the polar ice cap. As a result, many forms of wildlife have become contaminated with PCB's. There have been bans on fishing in various locations. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued an advisory against eating fish with more than 2 parts per million PCB's and recommended a maximum weekly intake. In addition, the U.S. EPA and the State of Connecticut have established a maximum contaminant level of 0.5 parts per billion of PCB's in drinking water.
PCBs (Polychlorinated Biphenyl) were widely used as a dielectric fluid in electrical transformers and capacitors. Their manufacture in the USA and the UK ceased in 1977. However, there remain a large number of installations which still contain PCB and more importantly these were not always labelled as containing Askarel as the product was sold under many different Trade Names (see below). In many instances these units were located in low-risk areas where the need for PCB was unnecessary.
PCB is used in paints. Ship paints, concrete paints, and paints with high resistance.
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Why are PCBs hazardous?
PCB is non-biodegradeable and is persistent in the environment. There is no place on earth where PCBs are not found. It can be absorbed through the skin, causing a skin rash called chloracne, liver damage and an increase of the fat in the blood. Appropriate protective clothing must be warn when handling equipment containing PCBs, also when subject to high temperature PCB can produce polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and, in the presence of tri- or tetra-chlorobenzene some polychlorinated dibenzodioxins (PCDDs) can be formed too. Some of these substances are extremely toxic — much worse than PCB — thus PCBs involved in a fire can produce long-lasting contamination of buildings.
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PCB Trade Names
When PCB was used in transformers and capacitors then, depending on their country of origin the name of the liquid used varied considerably. In order to help the customer, listed below are a number of the more well known trade names which have been used:
ACECLOR; APIROLIO; AROCLOR B; ASBESTOL
ASKAREL; BAKOLA 131; BICLOR; CHLOREXTOL
CLORPHEN; CLORINOL; CLOPHEN ; D.K.
DIACHLOR; DISCONOL; DUCONOL; DYKANOL
ELEMEX; EUCAREL; FENCLOR; HIVAR
HYDOL; HYVOL; INERTEEN; KANECLOR
KENNECHLOR; NO-FLAMOL; PERMATOL ; PHENOCLOR
PYRALENE ; PYRACLOR; PYRANOL; SAF-T-KUHL
SANTOTHERM; SIKLONYL; SOLVOL; THERMINOL
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Exposure of the General Population
In Germany mother's milk has been analysed on a large scale (about a thousand analyses per year) for various toxic substances like hexachlorobenzene, DDT, and PCB. Due to the continuous change in analytical procedures for PCB-determination it is difficult to compare values obtained for example for mother's milk before 1984 with those of recent years. Regardless of this analytical problem it is evident that since about 1980 the maximum values for PCB concentrations have been decreasing constantly. The range of PCB-concentrations in mother's milk in the last ten years is between 0.5 and 2.5 mg/kg milk fat. The average concentrations have been decreasing constantly since 1984.
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100 Years of Heroin from BAYER -
History of a "Cough Medicine"
Before the drug heroin was finally forbidden in 1971, heroin had already been in use for over 70 years as a drug in medications. What only few know: the pharmaceutical company BAYER developed the dangerous addictive drug.
The company trademarked the name of the substance in 1898.
The opiate with the medical name "diacetylmorphine" was known as heroin from then on. The English chemist C.R. Wright discovered it, but BAYER was the first company to mass produce the substance (a mixture of morphine and acetic acid). BAYER began an advertising campaign in 1900; ads praised the medication across the globe in 12 languages. BAYER sent thousands of free samples to doctors.
BAYER advertised heroin as a cough medicine for children saying the medicine was harmless, does not create dependency, and even helped cure colic in children. Heroin soon became a best seller. Heroin was no longer available on the market beginning in 1958 (much to BAYER's chagrin). An illegal drug scene developed soon after and the first victims of illegal heroin use were reported. By the way, MERCK and HOECHST unscrupulously sell the raw material acetanhydrid, which initially enables the production of black market heroin.
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100 Years of Aspirin -
White Pills with Dirty Spots
BAYER is celebrating its anniversary. One hundred years ago Felix Hoffmann, a BAYER employee, produced acetylsalicylic acid, better known as the global sales leader ASPIRIN. The medication, considered the "flagship" of the company by BAYER, is a global hit, although it is often by no means healthy and is still aggressively advertised.The marketing of ASPIRIN for children in the Third World shows the "responsible trade" throughout the world. Although the international experts warn of use of acetylsalicylic acid in children due to its many risks, BAYER continues to offer special ASPIRIN preparations for children in the Third World - exactly the target group for whom acetylsalicylic acid is dangerous. The safety warnings, which recommend extremely limited use with children and are so common in Germany and many other countries, are no where to be found in the Third World. According to BAYER, ASPIRIN is the medicine of choice for people (even children) suffering from pain, fever, colds and flu.
In Latin America alone, millions of children are subjected to grave health risks, since ASPIRIN is the best-selling medicine with an all- healing image there despite the fact that other healthier alternatives exist.
60 People Die Due to ASPIRIN
5,000 people were admitted into the British hospitals last year after taking ASPIRIN. However, help for 60 came too late, and they died.
The risks and side effects of paracetamol are even more alarming. 30,000-40,000 people were admitted into hospitals, 100-150 died.
The English health authorities also added that British supermarkets could only sell packets of 24 tablets.
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SUSPICION OF CANCER:
DENMARK PROHIBITS AUTAN
The Danish environmental authority has prohibited all anti-mosquito preparations containing diethyl-toluamide because the substance is suspected of being carcinogenic. Among them is the BAYER preparation AUTAN, which dominates the German market and is a big seller all around the world. The COALITION AGAINST BAYER- DANGERS demands a production freeze until potential health hazards have been outruled.
Coffee cultivation with deadly side effects
The public prosecutor's office in Manhuacu/Brazil is presently investigating the German company BAYER AG in the Federal state of Minas Gerais, and criminal charges will apparently be filed against a top BAYER manager. The background: More than 30 workers on coffee plantations were supposedly poisoned by the pesticide BAYSISTON, which is a number 1 seller on the Brazilian market, and 12 out of the 30 workers died. Farm worker organizations estimate the number of workers who have considerable health damage at several hundred.
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Child Labor in Indonesia?
KOMPAK, an organization protecting children's rights, is accusing BAYER of providing dangerous working conditions, as well as of having employed children in their Indonesian pesticides production.
April 4th, 1995: five helicopters arrive in Leverkusen. The Indonesian president Suharto visits the headquarters of BAYER, received by Bayer's board. This meeting documents the good relationship between BAYER and the dictators around the world. At the same time, the children's rights group from Indonesia is seeking help from German activists. KOMPAK reports violations of even the lax Indonesian safety regulations. Information about the ages of young workers had reportedly been altered. When representatives of KOMPAK took jobs at the facilities to monitor the conditions, they documented the following violations: Workers are exposed to poisonous gases and extreme heat and humidity at the PT SINAR PLATACO plant.
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KAMUKHAAN: A POISONED VILLAGE
http://www.cbgnetwork.org/home/Newsletter_KCB/KCB__17/kcb__17.html
By Dr. Romeo Quijano,
College of Medicine, University of Manila/Philippines
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Five new pesticides on the PIC list
The Prior Informed Consent (PIC) proceedings, developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations Environ- mental Programme (UNEP) allows so-called "developing countries" to forbid the import of certain dangerous chemicals.
The PIC list was amended to include 4 new active pesticide substances: methamidophos, parathion and parathionmethyl as well as the active substances in BAYER pesticides TAMARON, E 605 FORTE, ECOMBI and ME 605. According to an FAO report, 48,000 pesticide poisonings occurred last year in China alone - 3,204 of which were fatal.
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Demonstration at Bayer plant in Berkeley/USA:
Thousands protest AIDS suit
http://www.cbgnetwork.org/home/Newsletter_KCB/KCB__33___/kcb__33___.html
As part of an international day of action Monday, more than two hundred Bay Area residents protested in front of Bayer Corp.'s Berkeley plant, blasting its involvement in a lawsuit that may keep South Africans from getting cheap AIDS medication.
Plasma Victims in Taiwan
http://www.cbgnetwork.org/home/Newsletter_KCB/KCB__12/kcb__12.html
BAYER is paying 10 Taiwanese citizens, who were infected with the HIV virus via BAYER blood products, a total of $ 60,000 each. 43 other victims turned down the offer with the claim that BAYER had paid higher amounts in other countries. BAYER does not view the payments as compensation or an admission of guilt, but rather as voluntary "humanitarian aid".
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Press report concerning the news that Japanese haemophiliacs sue BAYER
BAYER group has contaminated blood preparations with AIDS
COALITION demands full compensation
The COALITION AGAINST BAYER-DANGERS, an international network of BAYER-critics, demands full compensation of haemophiliacs in Germany and all over the world on the basis of the concessions recently made in Japan. Whereas in Japan the haemophiliacs who became HIV-infected through contaminated coagulation preparations are to receive 450.000$ each as well as a pension of 1400$, the affected German haemophiliacs were put off with minor sums, if at all, already years ago. In return they had to sign a plaintiff‹s renunciation of the suit and a professional secrecy.
Due to a half-hearted intiative in 1995 the German Federal Government adjudicated a small pension of about 1000$ to the moribund.
The pharmaceutical combines make only completely insufficient contributions to this pension.
BAYER's moral responsibility weighs heavily. The extent of the AIDS epidemic among haemophiliacs could have been reduced dramatically through precautionary measures, because BAYER had anticipated the disaster early but still did not act.
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US: BAYER SPONSORS SCIENTISTS AND HEALTH ORGANIZATIONS
http://www.cbgnetwork.org/home/Newsletter_KCB/KCB__39/kcb__39.html
"Corporations increasingly are funding academic scientists to conduct research, speak at press conferences, and provide advice" says Michael Jacobson, executive director at the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). "Too frequently, neither the scientists nor the corporations disclose that funding." The CSPI lifted that veil of secrecy by launching an Internet site to provide information about the links between American scientists and corporations (www.integrityinscience.org).
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French Authorities Ban Pesticide Gaucho
http://www.cbgnetwork.org/home/Newsletter_KCB/KCB__30___/kcb__30___.html
French Farm Minister Jean Glavany has extended for two years the suspension on the use of Gaucho on sunflower seeds, imposed in January 1999, in line with the government's "principle of precaution". Glavany called for a full study into the possible causes of a sharp drop in France's bee population. Glavany also asked the ministry's Toxicology Commission to report as soon as possible on the potential impact of Gaucho residue in soil. The pesticide is used by wheat, barley, maize and sugar beet growers to protect against parasites.
Honey producers say Gaucho has damaged bee swarms by making plants toxic. Keepers say bees have become disoriented and unable to return to their hives, prompting them to dub the problem "mad bee disease". According to the National Union of French Beekeepers, the number of hives in France has plummeted to one million from 1.45 million in 1996. Bayer has said that Gaucho leaves a small residue in nectar and pollen, but not nearly in the quantities required to have an impact on bees. The company sells the product in 70 countries.
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Legal Action Filed Against Bayer in the Pesticide Poisoning Deaths of 24 Children in the Peruvian Andes
http://www.cbgnetwork.org/home/Newsletter_KCB/KCB__48/kcb__48.html
Lima, Peru -- On Monday October 22, 2001, two years to the day after 24 children in the remote Andean village of Tauccamarca were killed and 18 more severely poisoned when they drank a powdered milk substitute that had been contaminated with the pesticide methyl parathion, their families brought suit against the product's principle importer and manufacturer, the agrochemical company Bayer.
Methyl parathion is classified as Ia, or "extremely hazardous" and acutely toxic product by the World Health Organization, and is responsible for a disproportionately large share of pesticide poisonings in Latin America.
Bayer widely promoted its methyl parathion formulation, known as "Folidol", throughout Peru, without alerting users as to the product's grave risks to human health and the environment. The pesticide was marketed specifically for use in Andean crops that are cultivated mostly by small farmers, the vast majority of whom are are illiterate Quechua speakers. Nonetheless, Bayer packaged Folidol, a white powder that resembles powdered milk and has no strong chemical odor, in small plastic bags that provide no protection to users and give no indication of the danger of the product within. The bags are labeled in Spanish only, and carry drawings of healthy carrots and potatoes but no pictograms indicating danger or toxicity.
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BAYER-PESTICIDES IN TOXIC DUMP IN NEPAL
http://www.cbgnetwork.org/home/Newsletter_KCB/KCB__47/kcb__47.html
Greenpeace urges Industry to take responsibility
for toxic dumps around the globe
Greenpeace activists completed the containment of a stockpile of highly toxic obsolete pesticides in Nepal. The pesticides were exported to Nepal by multinationals such as Bayer, Sandoz, Shell, Rhone Poulenc, Du Pont, Union Carbide (Dow) and Monsanto and abandoned there after they reached their expiry date or were banned.
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BAYER PESTICIDES CAUSE POISONING IN CAMBODIA
http://www.cbgnetwork.org/home/Newsletter_KCB/KCB__45/kcb__45.html
Excerpts from a BBC documentary: www.toxictrail.org
Methyl parathion is officially banned or restricted in Cambodia, China, the US, Japan, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Sri Lanka.
The situation in some Asian countries, however, is that the chemical is widely used on a frequent basis. Folidol, the BAYER brand name for methyl parathion, is perhaps the most popular insecticide on the Cambodian market. Methamidophos, which according to WHO is category Ia ("extremely hazardous"), can be fatal if swallowed, inhaled or absorbed through the skin. Manufactured by BAYER and marketed as Monitor, methamidophos is a restricted chemical in the US and New Zealand but it manages to be another favourite of Cambodian farmers. Cambodia has over 50 kinds of dangerous pesticides: organophosphorous compounds are being illegally exported to Cambodia through Thailand and Vietnam, Cambodia thus serves as a dumping ground for products that cannot be sold in its neighbouring countries. The multinational firms that manufacture the chemicals say that they are not responsible because they do not directly market to Cambodia.
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BAYER DROPS SHARPLY AFTER ANNOUNCING IT WILL PULL DRUG FROM MARKET
http://www.cbgnetwork.org/home/Newsletter_KCB/KCB__43/kcb__43.html
Bayer AG withdrew a key anti-cholesterol drug on Wednesday after reports its side effects could be deadly. The German company said the withdrawal of Baycol, which had been expected to generate over one billion euros ($876.4 million) in sales this year, would slash 2001 profits by 600-650 million euros. The Leverkusen-based group said it was pulling Baycol/Lipobay with immediate effect across the world because of increasing reports of potentially lethal side effects involving muscular weakness and kidney failure. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in a statement: "FDA has received reports of 31 U.S. deaths due to severe rhabdomyolysis (muscle weakness) associated with use of Baycol'' (see below).
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Chemical firms targeted over toxic ship paints
http://www.cbgnetwork.org/home/Newsletter_KCB/KCB__34___/kcb__34___.html
Friends of the Earth's Norwegian branch is calling for at least two chemical firms to be taken to court after linking polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) in Oslo harbour sludge to their ship paint products. The study was commissioned by the local municipality, which wants to launch a clean-up operation but doesn't want to shoulder the entire costs, estimated at NKr200,000 (euros 24,400).
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USA: PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY SPONSORS REPUBLICAN ELECTORAL CAMPAIGN
http://www.cbgnetwork.org/home/Newsletter_KCB/KCB__23/kcb__23.html
German Corporation Bayer donated
$120,000 to Bush
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German Chemicals giant Bayer contaminates Brazil
Greenpeace sampling results show toxic chemicals slated for ban are being released at Bayer plant in Rio de Janeiro.
On January 22, 2001, over 20 Greenpeace activists from Brazil, Argentina, Chile, USA, Switzerland, Spain and Belgium invaded the Bayer Plant located in Nova Iguacu, state of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, to demand a zero toxic discharge commitment from the company. A new Greenpeace investigation shows that Bayer is contaminating the environment in Brazil with toxic Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) such as PCBs and heavy metals such as mercury.
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I.G. FARBEN and Warld War II
German production of steel and other products needed for war soared through the period leading up to the outbreak of the conflict in 1939. At the centre of this rearmament was the chemical giant, I.G. Farben. As Senator Homer T. Bone would say to a Senate Committee in 1943:
"Farben was Hitler and Hitler was Farben".
This immense cartel was created in its wartime form by American loans!
In 1939, with Wall Street investment, it had become the biggest manufacturer of chemicals in the world. And who controlled I.G. Farben, a company that would use Jews and others as slave labour?
The Rothschilds, via a stream of frontmen and companies.
Among the German bankers on the supervisory board of Farben into the late 1920s was Max Warburg, the brother of Paul Warburg of the Manhattan Bank, who was sent to the United States by the Rothschilds to install the Federal Reserve System and to take over the US economy. These were quite a pair, operating in concert in the US and Germany.
The US Naval Secret Service Report of December 2nd 1918 said:
"Paul Warburg. German, nationalised US citizen 1911, decorated by Kaiser, handled large sums furnished by German bankers for Lenin and Trotsky. His brother Max who is director of espionage system of Germany".
Paul Warburg was on the board of Farben's American subsidiary, American I.G.
Sitting alongside him were Edsel Ford (son of Henry) of the Ford Motor Company, Charles E. Michell from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and Walter Teagle, Franklin Roosevelt's close friend from Standard Oil. All this top American influence and support for a company of which an American War Department report said:
"Without I.G.'s immense productive facilities, its intense research, and vast international affiliations, Germany's prosecution of the war would have been unthinkable and impossible. Farben not only directed its energies toward arming Germany, but concentrated on weakening her intended victims, and this double-barrelled attempt to expand the German industrial potential for war and to restrict that of the rest of the world was not conceived and executed `in the normal course of business'.
The proof is overwhelming that I.G. Farben officials had full prior knowledge of Germany's plan for world conquest and of each specific aggressive act later undertaken..."
The Farben Empire became a state within a state and in effect ran its own economy. Reports and investigations, during and after the war, show that Farben's role, with Wall Street and British support, was to make Germany self-sufficient in all that Hitler needed for war: products like rubber, petrol, oils, and explosives.
One major problem they had was the supply of oil. Their supplies came from outside Germany and in 1934 around 85% of German petroleum products were imported. This would obviously dry up during a war. But a deal between Farben and the Rockefellers ensured a constant supply of oil to Germany. Farben began to invest vast sums from the Wall Street loans into research aimed at developing processes to make oil from the German reserves of coal.
What they couldn't discover for themselves, the Rockefeller's Standard Oil gave to them! In January 1933, just before Hitler came to power, a report from the Commercial Attache at the US Embassy in Berlin said:
"In two years Germany will be manufacturing oil and gas enough out of soft coal for a long war. The "Standard Oil" of New York is furnishing millions of dollars to help. "
The Rockefellers also helped IG. Farben with chemicals essential to aircraft fuel. The American representatives of American I.G. tried to hide their company's involvement with the German war machine by merging American I.G. into another company and changing its name to the General Airline and Film Corporation.
In fact, the makeup of the American I.G. board of 1930, with Farben already five years into its preparation for war, tells the real story of the US-German network which was leading the world into yet another awesome conflict.
When the war ended, and the investigation into its background began, three german members of American IG board were found guilty at the Nurnmberg War Crimes Trial.
Bayer is the world's leader in insecticides sales. Today Bayer operates in some 150 countries with subsidiaries in 56. Generally, its operations are divided into four sectors: health, agriculture, polymers, and chemistry. Up to this point, Bayer has shied away from the first generation of transgenic crops.
Reprinted from:
http://www.cbgnetwork.org/