Bayer
The Company
Summary
Bayer AG is a massive German based chemicals and pharmaceuticals manufacturer. It has operations in most countries worldwide and had global sales for 2000 of nearly $30 billion.[1] Its operations are divided into four sectors: Health, Agriculture, Polymers (plastics, synthetic rubber) and Chemicals. It has recently acquired Aventis' controversial cropscience business, making it a key player in the development, commercialisation and sale of GM crops. As a major player in 4 controversial sectors for over 125 years Bayer has a distinguished history of corporate crimes ranging from the manufacture and sale of controversial drugs (Heroin, Ciproxin and Baycol), the development of chemical warfare agents and poisons (Chlorine Gas, Zyklon B and VX), the use of forced labour during WW2, and numerous cases of poisoning, side-effects and environmental pollution connected to its chemical and pharmaceutical products. In December 2001, Multinational Monitor rated Bayer AG as one of their Top Ten Worst Companies of the year.[2]
Industry Areas
Bayer AG holds a key position in four market sectors: healthcare (pharmaceuticals), agriculture (seeds and agro-chemicals), polymers (plastics, synthetic rubber, coatings) and chemicals (chemical raw materials and specialised chemicals).
- Sector 2000 sales [3] (2000 Global Ranking)
- Healthcare -- €10,028m (N/A)
- Agriculture -- €3,455m (4th [equal])[4]
- Chemicals -- €4,275m (5th[])
- Polymers -- €11,398m>/td> (N/A)
By comparison with its closest competitors Bayer is something of a dinosaur. It is the only company to still maintain substantial holdings in all of these 4 areas. Up until the late 90s competitors, such as Monsanto, Astra-Zeneca, Novartis, Aventis, Du-Pont, Dow and BASF, accumulated holdings in the same areas in an attempt to exploit the life-sciences concept, the idea being that through using bio-technology, profitable synergies were possible between these different sectors. The life-science bubble has all but burst. In the last two years all of Bayer's major competitors have shed their holdings in one or more of these sectors in order to focus on a more defined set of interests. Bayer looks set to maintain its quadripedal structure, having recently announced its intention to transfer its 4 business divisions into independent corporate units owned by Bayer AG as an ultimate holding company.
===History===[5]
For over 125 years Bayer has been a major player in 4 of the most controversial business areas that capitalism has so far produced. They have a long and particularly nasty history of corporate crime (see also Corporate Crime section below internal link).
The first incarnation of what is currently Bayer AG was born out of the rush by European industrialists to develop and manufacture synthetic dyes in the second half of the 19th century. Friedrich Bayer and Johann Friedrich Weskott opened a dye factory in 1863 in Wuppertal, Germany. The company Farbenfabriken vorm. Friedr. Bayer & Co. was launched in 1883. Bayer quickly diversified their activities into other areas of chemical manufacture, including photography and pharmaceuticals. Bayer also established operations throughout Europe and the US. Early Bayer discoveries included Antinonin (synthetic pesticide, 1892), Aspirin (1897), Heroin (1898) and Buna (synthetic rubber 1915). During WWI Bayer, along with other chemical manufacturers (both Allied and German), turned their attention to the manufacture of chemical weapons [7] including chlorine gas used to horrendous effect in the trenches. During WWI Bayer had formed a close association with other German chemical companies including BASF and Hoechst. This relationship was formalised in 1925 with merger of these companies as well as AGFA, and others, to form the IG Farben Trust.[8] IG Farben continued to grow during the inter-war period as one of the most powerful chemical and pharmaceutical companies in the world. Products included polyurethanes and the first 'sulpha' drugs. It is during Nazi-era Germany and WW2 that IG Farben (Bayer) entered its most sinister phase. IG Farben as the leading chemical company in Nazi Germany took over chemical plants across Nazi occupied Europe, used slave-labour in their factories (including operating their own concentration camp), conducted medical experiments on those held in the concentration camps and manufactured the poison gas used to kill thousands. At the end of the war the 1945 Potsdam Agreement called for the break up of IG Farben into its constituent companies. Twelve IG Farben employees and directors were jailed for war crimes at the Nuremburg Trials. Bayer was re-established as Farbenfabriken Bayer AG in 1951, changing its name to the current Bayer AG in 1972. Although the post-WW2 Bayer is a different legal entity to the Bayer that pre-existed IG Farben, and that which formed part of IG Farben, a direct line of continuity can be traced between the personnel, infrastructure and technology of these 3 incarnations. Bayer has a very murky past that should be remembered.
For Bayer's rose-tinted, and very selective, version of its own history have a look at their Bayer Tapestry www.bayer.co.uk/tapestry/
2. Products and Projects
2.1. Bayer Healthcare 2.2 Bayer CropScience 2.3 Bayer Chemicals 2.4 Bayer Polymers
What do the CD you are listening to, the mattress you sleep on, the clothes you wear, the hangover cure that sees you through the morning after the night before, the prescription drugs that the doctor gives you, the pesticides that are sprayed on fields near where you live (and are on the food you eat), the skin of that sausage you have just eaten…all have in common? There is a good chance that some if not all of these products are at least partially made by Bayer AG. Bayer are one of the most ubiquitous corporations going, you may not know it but their products are all around you (and inside you).
Bayer produce very few products that are recognised by the general public. Well known Bayer brands include Alka-Seltzer, One-A-Day vitamins and Baby-Bio. The following section is a division by division overview of Bayer's products.
2.1. Bayer Healthcare: [9]
Bayer's healthcare division is divided into five further segments:
Pharmaceuticals [10] Bayer's most famous product during the last few months has been Cipro, (www.cipro.com) a broad spectrum antibiotic which is used against anthrax. See the Corporate Crimes section for more information on how Bayer managed to overcharge the US and Canadian governments for Cipro and made a fortune out of the anthrax attacks.
Another flagship product is Avelox, (www.avelox.com) an antibiotic.
Bayer also manufactures Aspirin Protect in Germany
Bayer's products in the UK are: · Adalat (nifedipine) (Cardiovascular) · Ciproxin (ciprofloxacin) (Anti-Infective) · Glucobay (acarbose) (Metabolics) · Nimotop (nimodipine) (Central Nervous System) · Trasylol (aprotinin) (Cardiovascular) · DTIC-DOME (dacarbazine) (Oncology)
Biological Products [11] The Biological Products division manufactures human therapeutic products, all except one of which are derived from human plasma.
Consumer Care [12] Bayer Consumer Care makes over-the-counter drugs. Its best known products are Aspirin, Alka-Seltzer, One-A-Day, Antan, Baygon and Canesten.
Diagnostics [13] Bayer Diagnostics has developed the following systems: · ADVIA® systems (Immunology, haematology, clinical chemistry, laboratory automation) · Clinitek® devices (Urine analysis in physicians' offices) · Glucometer® (Blood glucose meters range for diabetics) · N-Neostix® (Urine test strips for home use) · RapidpointTM/RapidlabTM (Blood gas and critical care analysis) · VERSANTTM (Quantitation of HIV-1 and hepatitis B and C viruses)
Animal Health [14] Products include the anti-infective Baytril®, parasiticides such as Bayticol®, Bolfo® flea collars, Tiguvon® and Droncit®, as well as hygiene products. The latest developments from this division are the flea control product Advantage® for dogs and cats and marker vaccines for cattle and pigs.
Back to top 2.2. Bayer CropScience[15] Bayer's CropScience business segment, including the Crop Protection business group, researches and develops new chemical crop protection agents to control diseases, pests and weeds in food crops. Such products include the fungicide Folicur®, the herbicides Goltix® and Sencor® and the insecticides Bulldock® and Baythroid®.[16]
Bayer has greatly expanded its crop protection business with the acquisition of Aventis CropScience (ACS) (link to ACS section below). The purchase agreement was signed in October 2001. The crop science activities will be organised as a separate legal entity named 'Bayer CropScience'. The business will cover all agrochemical activities as well as biotechnology and seeds.[17]
Fungicides [18] Bayer fungicides include: Tebuconazole Trademarks include Folicur®, Horizon®, Elite®, and Raxil® Triadimenol Trademarks include Bayfidan® and Baytan® Propineb Trademark: Antracol® Bitertanol Trademarks include Baycor® and Sibutol® Spiroxamine Trademarks include Impulse® and Prosper® Carpropamid Trademarks include Win®, Arcado®, Protega®, Solazas®, Seed-one®, Zabara®, Prowang® Dichlofluanid Trademark: Euparen® Pencycuron Trademark: Monceren® Fenhexamid Iprovalicarb Trademarks: Melody®, Positron®, Invento® Triadimenol Trademarks include Bayfidan® and Baytan® Trifloxystrobin Tradenames: Flint®, Stratego®, Compass®, Twist® Tolylfluanid Trademarks include Euparen® Multi, Euparen® M, Jinete®
Herbicides [19] Bayer herbicides include: Fentrazamide Trademarks: INNOVA®, Lecspro®, Dongsimae®, Bai Tian Jing® Power by FOE - Flufenacet Trademarks Artist®, Aspect®, Axiom®, Bastille®, Cadou®, Diplome®, Domain®, Drago®, Epic®, Herold®, Plateen® ,Terano® and Tiara® Flufenacet Trademarks include Artist®, Axiom®, Domain®, Epic®, Herold® and Terano® Flucarbazone - sodium Trademarks: Everest, Vulcano® Metamitron Trademark: Goltix® Metribuzin Trademarks: Sencor®, Sencoral®, and Sencorex® Mefenacet Trademarks: Hinochloa®, Rancho®, Zark®, Wolf ACe® Propoxycarbazone - sodium Trademarks: Attribut®, Olympus®
Insecticides [20] Bayer insecticides include: Imidacloprid Trademarks include Gaucho®, Admire®, Confidor®, and Provado® Methamidophos Trademarks include Tamaron® and Monitor® Beta-Cyfluthrin & Cyfluthrin Trademarks include Bulldock®, Enduro®, Baythroid®, Tempo® Parathions Trademarks include E 605®, Folidol®, and Bladan® Oxydemeton - methyl Trademarks include Metasystox® Methiocarb Trademarks: Mesurol® flowable, Mesurol® slug pellets and Provada® garden spray Azinphos - methyl Trademarks: Gusathion® M, Guthion® Carbofuran Trademark Curaterr® Fenthion Trademark: Lebaycid ®Fenamiphos Trademark Nemacur®Thiacloprid Trademark Calypso® Disulfoton Trademark Disyston®
Crop Science Research & Development Bayer's Agricultural Centre at Monheim, between Düsseldorf and Cologne, is one of the biggest research centres of its kind in the world. Here, research is carried out into methods and products in the field of crop protection.[21]
Back to top
Bayer and the Aventis CropScience purchase In early October 2001 Bayer AG finally acquired Aventis CropScience at a cost of 7.25bn Euro (£4.5bn)[22], their largest single purchase ever. In so doing Bayer CropScience, as its new agriculture division will be known, have become the second largest agro-chemical and seed company in the world behind Syngenta. They have also become the leading company pushing forward the commercialisation of GM crops in the UK and Europe, and arejust one of a few companies selling GM crops in the US, Canada and elsewhere in the world.
Aventis CropScience was formed in late 1999 by the merger of AgrEvo (itself a joint venture between the agricultural businesses of Hoechst and Schering) and the agricultural business of Rhone-Poulenc. At the time of the sale to Bayer, Aventis CropScience had a substantial portfolio of products including GM seeds (both herbicide tolerant and insect-resistant lines) and a range of agro-chemicals.[23] Its 2000 sales were worth 4,034 million Euros and it employed about 14,400 people in more than 120 countries worldwide.[24]
Having shed its loss-making CropScience business (it is also currently in the process of selling off its Animal Nutrition business[25]) Aventis is now concentrating on pharmaceuticals. It will, however, retain all future liability for damages claims made in relation to last year's (2000) Starlink GM contamination scandal.[26] Aventis have already launched a huge advertising campaign to try to re-brand themselves as the squeaky clean, benevolent drugs company that will save the world (see the CW subvert on the back cover of the December 2001 edition of The Ecologist).
Despite considerable existing holdings in crop protection, until now Bayer has kept its distance from GM crops, preferring a more 'traditional' reliance on agro-chemicals. Its acquisition of Aventis CropScience has vastly enhanced Bayer's agricultural sector, particularly in herbicides and conventional and GM seeds. Bayer now owns over half of the GM crop varieties currently seeking approval for commercial growing in the EU. These include 9 varieties of oilseed rape and one variety of maize, all of which are modified to be tolerant to the herbicide glufosinate ammonium, or Liberty, also now owned by Bayer.[27] Should the de facto EU moratorium on the commercial growing of GM crops be lifted, Bayer will be best placed to flood European fields with GM crops. In the UK Bayer will be responsible for the majority of GM field trials, including the controversial farm scale trials, during 2002.
The new Bayer CropScience will form one of Bayer's new independent corporate units. At the time of writing (late January 2002) it is uncertain quite how the new company will look. The European Commission has launched an enquiry into the CropScience purchase claiming that competition may be significantly reduced in the areas of insecticides, herbicides, fungicides and seed treatment products.[28] Bayer may be forced to sell off certain areas of CropScience. Prior to the acquisition, BASF had expressed an interest in buying some, or all, of Aventis' insecticide business.[29]
Although the composition of the management of the new company has recently been announced,[30] it remains to be seen quite how Bayer's existing agricultural concerns will be merged with Aventis CropScience, and what the implications will be for shedding of infrastructure and job losses.[31] Recent articles in the financial press suggest that the merging of the two agricultural businesses may result in 3, 000 job loses. [32] Likewise its strategy for expanding sales of GM crops is still unknown.
For more information on the company that was Aventis CropScience go to the Corporate Watch Aventis briefing at www.corporatewatch.org.uk/publications/GEBriefings/aventis1.html
Back to top 2.3. Bayer Chemicals [33] The business segment Chemicals at Bayer includes the divisions Basic and Fine Chemicals, Speciality Products, as well as the subsidiary companies Haarmann & Reimer, H.C. Starck and since the fiscal year 2000 Wolff Walsrode.
Bayer will divest Haarmann & Reimer as part of their reorganisation process. You can find more information on Bayer's reorganisation process and the aforementioned subsidiaries in the 'Who, Where, How much?' section [link] of this profile.
Basic and Fine Chemicals The production and marketing of basic and fine chemicals are among the core activities of the Bayer Group. The company is one of the world's leading suppliers of these products. Fine chemicals have a key role as precursors for pharmaceuticals, crop protection agents, plastics and electronic components. Recent developments include biodegradable substances for detergents and cleaning products and conductive polymers for electronics applications.[34]
Specialty Products [35] The Specialty Products Business Group markets an extensive range of performance chemicals focussing on the specific requirements of Bayer's business partners and industries. The Speciality Products Business Group provides solutions to the paper, leather and textile industry.
The product range includes dyes for inkjet printing and many other applications, speciality chemicals for the agriculture and pharmaceutical industries, versatile high-grade biocides, polymer additives to give polymers the processing properties they need, and water treatment and ion exchange resins.
Haarmann & Reimer See 'Who, Where, How Much?' (Subsidiaries) section in this profile.
H.C. Stark See 'Who, Where, How Much?' (Subsidiaries) section in this profile.
Wolff Walsrode AG See 'Who, Where, How Much?' (Subsidiaries) section in this profile.
Wolff Cellulosics [36] Wolff Cellulosics is the competence centre for cellulose chemistry within the Bayer Group. The cellulose derivatives are used as raw materials for printing inks and coatings and as additives for building materials.
Epurex Film [37] Epurex Film produces film solutions.
CaseTech [38] CaseTech produces sausage casings.
Walothen Company [39] Walothen Company is part of the Bayer Group as a subsidiary of Wolff Walsrode AG. The current Walothen Product Range covers the following fields of application: films for the tobacco industry; films for print lamination; overwrap films; films for metallization; and standard films.
Probis [40] Probis is the technical Service Company for all operational companies inside and outside the Industrial Park Walsrode. Probis deals with a wide range of services including logistics, finances, communication, engineering, energy, information-systems, and technical and medical services.
Back to top 2.4. Bayer Polymers [41] Bayer's Polymers segment comprises five business groups: Plastics, Rubber, Polyurethanes, Coatings and Colorants, including the subsidiaries Bayer Faser GmbH (fibres).
Plastics [42] The Plastics Business Group supplies a broad range of engineering thermoplastics and high-tech semi-finished products to meet the differing requirements of a wide variety of industries.
Rubber [43] As a leading supplier of raw materials, Bayer claims to be among the most important partners to the rubber and tyre industry. The portfolio of the Rubber Business Group comprises synthetic rubber, rubber chemicals and modifiers for the plastics industry, along with special preparations and processing chemicals from Bayer subsidiary RheinChemie and latexes from PolymerLatex, a joint venture with Degussa-Hüls AG.
Polyurethanes [44] Bayer claims to be 'the market and technology leader in the field of polyurethanes'. The Polyurethanes Business Group (PU) supplies polyurethane raw materials and systems. The broad spectrum of applications for Bayer polyurethanes stretches from solid materials to foams with a wide range of properties.
Foam applications: furniture, mattresses, automotive components, textiles, packaging, technical articles, construction, refrigeration, appliances, technical insulation, sports equipment, automotive components, footwear, etc.[45]
Bayer proudly declares that all the strategies of the Polyurethanes Business Group are based on the principles of Responsible Care. Responsible Care is a voluntary chemical industry initiative (see also section 'Influence and Lobbying').
Coatings and Colorants [46] This business group consolidates all products used as raw materials in coatings, sealants and adhesives and as colorants for plastics and construction materials.
Applications: automative coatings, industrial coatings, powder coatings, wood coatings, construction, corrosion protection, adhesives, colorants for plastics, textiles coatings, and specialities.[47]
Bayer Faser GmbH (fibres) Bayer Faser GmbH is one of the leading fibre manufacturers in the world. Bayer fibres are used in all kinds of products - from clothing through carpets and home furnishings to fishing lines.[48]
3. Who, where, how much?
- 3.1. Structure
* 3.1.1. Bayer AG / The Bayer group
* 3.1.2. Reorganisation Process: Bayer's Corporate Shake Up
* 3.1.3. Embattled Drug Unit
* 3.1.4. NYSE
- 3.2. Locations
- 3.3. Management
* 3.3.1. Members of the Board of Management of Bayer AG
* 3.3.2. Supervisory Board
- 3.4. Ownership
- 3.5. Bayer Plc in the UK
* 3.5.1. Offices
* 3.5.2. Management
- 3.6. Bayer AG: Subsidiaries & Alliances
* 3.6.1. Subsidiaries
* 3.6.2. Alliances
3. Who, where, how much?
3.1. Structure
- 3.1.1 Bayer AG/ The Bayer Group
- 3.1.2. Reorganisation Process: Bayer's Corporate Shake Up
- 3.1.3. Embattled Drug Unit
- 3.1.4. NYSE
3.1.1. Bayer AG / The Bayer group
Bayer AG is a health care and chemicals group represented by 350 companies on all continents employing 117,300 people.
The activities of the Bayer Group are divided into four business segments - Health Care, Agriculture, Polymers and Chemicals - which comprise 15 business groups worldwide.[49]
For an overview of the activities of the individual business groups and their key products, visit:
http://www.bayer.com/en/unternehmen/arbeitsgebiete/index.html
In addition, Bayer cooperates with various companies through strategic alliances, license agreements and scientific operations (see section on 'Alliances').
3.1.2. Reorganisation Process: Bayer's Corporate Shake Up
Bayer plans to transform its current organisational structure into a management holding company with independent operating subsidiaries in order to achieve greater flexibility for necessary strategic partnerships. The holding company's management board is to determine overall strategy, decide on the portfolio, control resource allocation and nominate subsidiary companies' managers. The four business divisions (Health Care, Agriculture, Chemicals and Polymers) will be transferred into legally independent corporate units within the Bayer Group.
Subject to stockholders' approval, the new structure is to be operational effective January 1, 2003. The company's Supervisory Board at its meeting on December 6, 2001 approved plans to this effect. CEO Schneider is optimistic about the future of the new business units and said: "We are convinced that all the new companies will prosper and establish themselves as leaders in their respective markets. The Bayer name and trademark will continue to be of great benefit. We believe the strong cohesion provided by a holding company serves to increase the value of the entire Group."[50]
3.1.3. Embattled Drug Unit
Many analysts expected that Bayer would divest its Health Care Division after various major setbacks had hit Bayer's pharmaceutical segment (e.g. the Baycol and Kogenate crises). However, the company said it 'had no intention of giving up control of its drug unit'.[51] The already embattled drug unit has recently faced yet another setback, as Bayer's global head of pharmaceuticals David Ebsworth decided to quit unexpectedly. The company gave no explanation for the sudden departure of Ebsworth who is known to have hinted that he was dissatisfied with Bayer's efforts to revamp its structure and recover from the aforementioned serious pharmaceutical setbacks. He has said that he could find no opportunities that appealed within the new Bayer structure.[52]
Bayer is likely to form a pharmaceutical alliance in next couple of months (BBC News, 8 January 2002).
3.1.4. NYSE
Bayer have recently completed their highly symbolic listing of its shares Wall Street on January 24 2002. By floating on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Bayer hoped to raise new capital in order to, among other things, finance its reorganisation plans. The company was forced to postpone the listing last year after its best-selling drug, the cholesterol-treatment Baycol, was linked to more than 50 deaths worldwide.[53]
Back to top 3.2. Locations
The cornerstones of its business activities are in Europe, North America and the Far East. You can find links to all locations at: http://www.bayer.com/en/unternehmen/standorte/index.html
The headquarters of the Bayer Group is in Leverkusen, Germany. From Leverkusen, Bayer administers and coordinates its activities throughout the world. To find out how to get to Bayer Leverkusen, visit: http://www.bayer.com/de/standorte/wege_zu_bayer/wege_leverkusen/wege_leverkusen_en.html
Back to top 3.3. Management
- 3.3.1. Members of the Board of Management of Bayer AG
3.3.2. Supervisory Board
Board of Management & Supervisory Board
The Board of Management, the company's highest-ranking group of individuals leads Bayer AG. The 20-person Supervisory Board oversees the Board of Management. Employees from inside and outside the company, as well as representatives from subsidiaries, industry organisations, banks, unions and research organisations make up the Supervisory Board. Each member has one vote.[54]
3.3.1. Members of the Board of Management of Bayer AG[55]:
Manfred Schneider Chairman of the Board of Management Dr. Manfred Schneider has been Chairman of the Board of Management of Bayer AG since April 29, 1992. He chairs the Board Committee for Corporate Coordination and is a member of the Board Committee for Finance. Manfred Schneider was born on December 21, 1938 in Bremerhaven. He studied business management at the universities of Freiburg, Hamburg and Cologne. He joined Bayer AG in 1966. Schneider joined the Board of Management on January 1, 1987, and from then until his appointment as Chairman he served various high-ranking positions within the company. In addition to his activities on the Board, Dr. Schneider has various functions outside the company. He is, for example, President of the German Chemical Industry Association (VCI), Vice President of the Confederation of German Industry (BDI) and a member of the Supervisory Boards of Allianz AG, Munich; DaimlerChrysler AG, Stuttgart; Metro AG, Cologne; and RWE Aktiengesellschaft, Essen.[56] Schneider is also a member of the following industrial lobby groups: European Roundtable of Industrialists (ERT), EuropaBio, UNICE and AmCham (see Influence section).
Dr. Udo Oels Dr. Udo Oels has been a member of the Board of Management of Bayer AG since February 1, 1996.[60]
Werner Spinner Werner Spinner was appointed to the Board of Management of Bayer AG effective February 1, 1998.[61]
Werner Wenning Werner Wenning was appointed to the Board of Management of Bayer AG effective February 1, 1997.[62] At the end of the Annual Stockholders' Meeting on April 26, 2002, Wenning will succeed Dr. Manfred Schneider as Bayer's CEO.[63]
Dr. Gottfried Zaby Dr. Gottfried Zaby was appointed to the Board of Management of Bayer AG on May 1, 2000. Dr. Zaby is Chairman of the Executive Committee of the German Association of Plastics Manufacturers.[64] He is also one of the Directors of UK-based Bayer PLC.
Dr. Attila Molnar Dr. Attila Molnar was appointed to the Board of Management effective April 1, 1999. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the German Chemical Industry Employers' Association (BAVC), Wiesbaden, and a member of the Board of the European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC).[65]
Dr. Frank Morich
Dr. Frank Morich was appointed to the Board of Management of Bayer AG on May 1, 2000. Dr. Morich is a member of the Board of the EFPIA (European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations).[66]
For the profiles of the Members of the Board of Management, visit: http://www.bayer.com/en/unternehmen/fuehrungsmannschaft/index.html
3.3.2. Supervisory Board
The 20-person Supervisory Board oversees the Board of Management. Employees from inside and outside the company, as well as representatives from subsidiaries ('More than half of Bayer's supervisory board is made up of worker representatives'[67]), industry organisations, banks, unions and research organisations make up the Supervisory Board. Each member has one vote.
Members include:
Hermann J. Strenger Chairman of the Supervisory Board
Petra Kronen
Dr. Eugen Velker
Siegfried Wendlandt Mr. Wendlandt is North Rhine District Secretary of the German Mine, Chemical and Power Workers' Union. [68]
L.C. van Wachem
L.C. van Wachem is also Chairman of Philips Supervisory Board; former chairman of the Committee of Managing Directors of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group; currently chairman of the Supervisory Board of Royal Dutch Petroleum Company; a member of the supervisory boards of Akzo Nobel, and BMW; and a member of the board of directors of IBM, Atco and Zürich Financial Services.[69]
Hilmar Kopper
Kopper sat for many decades in numerous control committees. Still today Kopper pulls the strings in two of the most important control committees of the German economy: He is chief custodian of both the Deutsche Bank AG and DaimlerChrysler.[70] In addition, Kopper sits on the Supervisory Boards of Akzo Nobel, Unilever and Xerox Corp.[71] In the past, Kopper sat on the boards of Lufthansa AG, Solvay SA and RWE AG. He has frequently been labelled as 'one of Germany's most influential men'.
Back to top 3.4. Ownership
Bayer AG is a publicly owned company and has nearly 500,000 shareholders, all having a small interest in the corporation. As a consequence, individually they exert very little influence.
In June 2001, Bayer reported that non-German investors held 39% of its capital stock. The UK and US hold the largest proportion of non-German owned stock; together investors in these countries account for 46% of the non-German stock ownership.[72]
Stock ownership by categories of shareholders: 55% Banks and Insurance Companies (including both Allianz AG, the only stockholder with a holding of more than 5% of the capital stock, and Deutsche Bank) 24% Individuals (about 12% of the individual stockholders are Bayer employees, who between them own 2.1 percent of the stock) 12% Investment funds 6% Others 3% Trade and Industry [73]
The Critical Bayer Shareholders (a project group of the Coalition Against BAYER-Dangers) are equipped with the voting rights of smaller shareholders. They have confronted company management, banks and large shareholders with the information on the real consequences of Bayer's profits since 1982. The Critical Bayer Shareholders sometimes pass shareholder entry permits on to other public interest groups in order to give them a chance to stress their concerns at Bayer shareholder meetings.
At the Bayer shareholder meeting in Cologne (27 April 2001) Dr. Korinna Horta of US-based Environmental Defense was able to enter the meeting hall and register as a speaker thanks to an entry permit passed by Coalition Against BAYER-Dangers. Dr. Korinna Horta reports that it was clear that much of what went on was staged. "Many of the "shareholders" did nothing but praise the heroic deeds of management." She explains how the "critical shareholders" got the worst slots to speak, basically only at the end of the day.[74]
Bayer Shares Data: http://www.nyse.bayer.com/en/bstock/bstockdata.php?id=03010200000000000000
Current Price and Market Data: http://www.nyse.bayer.com/en/bstock/curdata.php?id=03010300000000000000
Basic Data Capital Stock
The capital stock of Bayer AG, amounting to Euro 1,869,675,315.20, is divided into 730,341,920 bearer shares. Since July 1, 1998, the stock has been traded as no-par stock, which means the individual shares no longer have a nominal value. The current value of one share - the share price - is determined by the company's total value on the stock market (market capitalisation) and the number of shares in circulation.
Bayer shares have lost a third of their value since the Baycol story broke at 8 August 2001.[75] Bayer withdrew key anti-cholesterol drug Baycol on August 8 because of potentially fatal side effects, sending its stock down and raising questions about Bayer's future in drugs.[76] In addition, investors downgraded Bayer after the Aventis CropScience deal was announced because of the company's increased debt burden. Analysts said the increase in Bayer's debt, which will reach about 14bn Euros, would also restrict Bayer's ability to make acquisitions to bolster its troubled pharmaceuticals division.[77]
However, Bayer's stock rose slightly in response to the so-called anthrax crisis following the terrorist attacks of the 11th of September. Bayer holds the US patent on Cipro, an anthrax treatment drug.[78] (see Corporate Crimes section)
Bayer's 24th January 2002 listing its on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) was done in order to raise new capital and boost its creditworthiness. In preparation for raising funds in the capital markets, Bayer has already expanded its existing financing operations.[79]
Changing Shareholder Climate in Germany
Foreign Shareholders gain greater Control. Bayer's Annual Shareholder Meeting illustrates this trend
Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank is Germany's largest commercial bank. For further details: www.deutsche-bank.com
Deutsche Bank is currently in the process of laying-off 7% (7,100 people by 2003) of its workforce. Even so, yet more could be on the way: German press reports say that total lay-offs at the bank could top 10,000.[80] Deutsche Bank announced 2,600 job losses in January 2001, on the same day it reported a doubling of net profits for 2000.[81]
Deutsche Bank is alleged to be involved in the shady business of gold price manipulation, labelled by Der Spiegel (7 January 2001) as 'one of the biggest scandals in economic history'. US Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Alan Greenspan and JP Morgan were also involved.[82]
In July 12 1999 Deutsche bank issued a report ('Ag Biotech: Thanks, But No Thanks?') which reviewed the financial performance of life science companies investing in GMOs. The report has stimulated much discussion and considerable media coverage.[83] Deutsche Bank also issued other reports in 1999 (e.g. 'GMOs Are Dead' in May 1999) advising its institutional investors, including government pension funds, that "growing negative sentiment" was creating problems for the biotech companies.[84] Although the Deutsche Bank analysts advised investors that GMOs were a poor investment because of consumer resistance, they still believe in the long-term benefits of GMOs.[85]
Allianz AG
Allianz AG owns 5.7 percent of Bayer stock. Allianz remains the biggest single stockholder and the only one holding more than 5 percent of the capital stock.[86] Allianz AG is one of the world's leading insurance groups. Allianz AG took over Dresdner Bank in April 2001 and became the Allianz Group. Allianz Group rank among the world's top financial giants. Bernt Fahrholz, Dresdner Bank's chairman, said the Allianz deal was a major step towards consolidation of the German financial sector, unravelling a complex web of cross shareholdings (see also box above).[87]
Tweedy Browne: A New York-based investment management firm. Tweedy Browne holds less than 1% of Bayer. Thomas Shrager, a partner at Tweedy Browne has lobbied Bayer's management for months to free its undervalued pharmaceutical business from the rest of the conglomerate. We now know Schrager's proposal did not materialise.[88]
Back to top 3.5. Bayer Plc in the UK
3.5.1. Offices 3.5.2. Management
3.5.1. Offices in the UK See: http://www.bayer.co.uk/about/locations.html
For information on Bayer in the UK, you can contact:
Corporate Communications Bayer plc Bayer House Strawberry Hill Newbury Berkshire RG14 1JA tel: +44 (0)1635 563000 fax: +44 (0)1635 563393 e-mail: corporate.communications@bayer.co.uk
Other Bayer sites are located at:
-Branston (W Hawley & Son Ltd), -Bridgend (Bayer Diagnostics Manufacturing Ltd) -Bromsgrove (Central Warehouse, PolymerLatex, joint venture) -Bury St Edmunds (Crop Protection and Animal Health) -Enfield (pbi Ltd --pbi Home & Garden Limited is a multi-million pound garden products business, now part of Bayer plc since 1999) -Halifax (DyStar Textilfarben GmbH) -Malvern (Microbial Developments Ltd) -Marlow (Haarman & Reimer Ltd) -Sudbury (Bayer Diagnostics Manufacturing Ltd).
Web links to these subsidiaries will provide you with the site-specific contact details.[89]
3.5.2. Management
Directors of Bayer PLC (information from Companies House Current Appointments Report for BAYER PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANY 14/12/2001)
Company Secretary: Martin David Newson Director: Lennart Thorsten Aberg (Managing Director of Bayer plc) Director: Dr Franz-Joseph Berners Director: Dr Gottfried Zaby
Back to top 3.6. Bayer AG: Subsidiaries & Alliances
- 3.6.1. Subsidiaries
- 3.6.2. Alliances
3.6.1. Subsidiaries
Most of Bayer's subsidiaries carry the Bayer name. Bayer subsidiaries not carrying the Bayer name include:
Haarmann & Reimer Flavours & fragrances for processing industries wholly owned by Bayer. Bayer will divest Haarmann & Reimer as part of their reorganisation process (see above). Haarmann & Reimer has recently been fined by the European Commission for participating in a price-fixing and market-sharing cartel in citric acid. Citric acid is one of the most widely used additives in the food and beverage industry both as an acidulent and preservative. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, Archer Daniels Midland Co (ADM), Jungbunzlauer AG, and Cerestar Bioproducts BV were the other corporations fined.[90] Further information: http://www.haarmann-reimer.com/en/index.php
Rhein Chemie Rheinau GmbH (RC) The company is a specialist in additives for the rubber, lubricants and plastics industries as well as in polyurethane chemistry. Rhein Chemie Rheinau will be divested as part of the reorganisation process (see above). The company is an expanding international chemicals company with production sites in the major industrial regions of the world. Rhein Chemie has 13 production sites and sales divisions, and more than 70 agencies, mainly operated by Bayer. Further information: http://www.rheinchemie.com/public/rccms.nsf/homepagesEN/$First
PolymerLatex Polymer company, a joint subsidiary of Bayer AG and Degussa AG. Bayer has planned to sell its 50% interests in PolymerLatex as part of the reorganisation process. Since Degussa, the other joint venture partner, also wishes to sell its interest, the sale will be effected jointly by Bayer and Degussa.[91] Further information: http://www.polymerlatex.com/
H.C. Starck Metal & ceramic powders.
H.C. Starck supplies Bayer with tantalum (= a metal) powder, an essential input for the production of Bayer's capacitors that go into cellular telephones, personal computers and CD players. Bayer claims its close co-operation with its subsidiary H.C. Starck made the company Europe's premier supplier of tantalum capacitors. The booming mobile phone market boosted profits derived from tantalum. Nearly all mobile phones contain one of Bayer's capacitors (Bayer Annual Report 2000).[92]
Tantalum is also vital to the manufacture of advanced jet engines, air bags, night vision goggles, fiber optics and computer chips. Col-tan (short for columbite-tantalite, an ore rich in the element tantalum) is an important factor in the Congo war. Minerals have funded the two wars that have ravaged Congo for four of the last five years. Congo's eastern section is home to some of the richest col-tan ore deposits in the world. Roughly half of the tantalum that originates from Congo ends up being turned to powder by H.C. Starck (see also Corporate Crimes section internal link).[93] Further information: http://www.hcstarck.com/index.cfm?PAGE_ID=5
Wolff Walsrode Chemical company. Wolff Walsrode's core competency lies in cellulose derivatives for use in a wide variety of building materials as well as in emulsion paints, printing inks, coatings, pharmaceutical products and cosmetics.[94] Further information: http://www.wolffwalsrode.de/index.htm
Epurex Technical film applications. The company's global activities also include its sister company Deerfield Urethane, USA. Further information: http://www.epurex.com/index.cfm?SEITEN_ID=1118
Polyurethanes Business Group (PU) PU is a supplier of polyurethane raw materials and systems and wholly owned by Bayer AG. PU has regional centers as well as R&D and technical service centers forming a network of locations in different parts of the world. Further information: www.pu.bayer.com/4228_e.htm
iSL Chemie A subsidiary of Rhein Chemie Rheinau GmbH in Mannheim. iSL-Chemie manufactures colour pastes for plastics and coatings. Following the company's acquisition at the end of 1997 and its integration into the Bayer Group, colour systems for thermosetting plastics - especially polyurethanes - were concentrated in iSL-Chemie.[95] Further information: http://www.press.bayer.com/News/news.nsf/ID/NT000056E6
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Hennecke PUR-recycling technologies and processing of environmentally friendly blowing agents. Further information: http://www.hennecke.com/<
Agfa-Gevaert Group Bayer AG owns 30% of the Afga-Gevaert Group shares, Gevaert NV owns 25% and 45% floats free. Afga is well known for its photographic films, but manufactures all kinds of high-end 'imaging' solutions; hardware, software and digital imaging products. Further information: www.agfa.com
W. Hawley & Son Ltd are a wholly owned subsidiary of Bayer. Today the company stands as one of the market leaders in the manufacture of quality specialist powder and liquid pigments, and is now the largest blender and processor of these products in the United Kingdom.[96] Further information: www.hawley.co.uk
DyStar DyStar supplies dyestuffs to the textile industry. DyStar Textilfarben GmbH is a joint venture between Bayer and Hoechst, who merged their dyestuffs operations in 1995. Its main product areas are reactive dyestuffs for cotton and viscose dyeing; disperse dyestuffs for the polyester fibres market; and speciality dyestuffs, mainly for the dyeing of polyamide, polyacrylic and cotton.[97] Further information: http://www.dystar.com
pbi Home & Garden Limited pbi Home & Garden Limited is a multi-million pound garden products business, part of Bayer plc since 1999. Based in Enfield, Middlesex, the company's famous products include Baby Bio plant food and the Bio product range for the home garden market, available through all major UK garden centres and DIY outlets.[98] The company claims that research suggests 'there's hardly a household in Britain that doesn't own a pbi Home & Garden product.'[99]Further information: http://www.pbi.co.uk/
Bayer CropScience (internal link) Bayer bought Aventis CropScience (ACS) in October 2001. Current owners of AventisCropScience are Aventis (76 percent) and Schering (24 percent).
The combined Bayer CropScience [the company to be set up to combine the activities of Bayer's Crop Protection Business Group with those of Aventis CropScience] will have a share of more than 30% of the global insecticides market and will become number 2 in the global agrochemical market, behind Syngenta. Aventis, formed from a merger of Hoechst and Rhone-Poulenc in 1999, and Bayer said they expected the deal to close in the first quarter of 2002.[100]
However, anti-trust authorities might demand disinvestment. The European Commission, the US Federal Trade Commission and the Canadian Competition Bureau have started investigations into Bayer's proposal to purchase ACS.[101]
Aventis S.A Carsten Tilger, phone +33 3 8899 1114 carsten.tilger@aventis.com Schering AG Dr. Friedrich von Heyl, phone +49 30 468 15296 mailto:friedrich.vonheyl@schering.de [102]
Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan and Bank of America Securities are to provide a 6bn euros ($5.3bn) bridging loan to finance Bayer's planned acquisition of Aventis CropScience, according to BBC News (12 December 2001).[103]
Aventis CropScience web site: http://www.cropscience.aventis.com
Aventis accused of violating UN Global Compact rules: http://www.corpwatch.org/news/PND.jsp?articleid=72 (Source: CorpWatch USA)
Aventis accused of participating in global vitamin cartel: http://www.smh.com.au/news/0111/23/world/world13.html (Source: The Sidney Morning Herald, 23 November 2001)
Read about Bayer's market position in the crop protection sector after acquiring ACS: http://www.news.bayer.com/News/news.nsf/ID/NT0000E0AE (Source: Bayer press release, 2 October 2001, "Bayer CropScience will make us the market leader")
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3.6.2. Alliances
Bayer cooperates with various independent companies through strategic alliances, license agreements and scientific operations. A few examples:
Pharmaceuticals: In spite of the various setbacks in Bayer's pharmaceutical division (see above) the Bayer management still expresses uncompromising confidence in the division's success and profitability. They want to give the health care division more autonomy within the new organisational structure (see above). Also, many in the industry expect Bayer to form a pharmaceutical alliance in next couple of months (BBC News, 8 January 2002).
Bayer has just started talks with Aventis, the Franco-German life sciences company, to set up a joint venture in blood products, BBC News reports (8 January 2002). A joint venture would bring together two of the largest players in the $5.8bn global market for plasma and recombinant blood products. A complete merger could face anti-trust problems. However, the companies are understood not to be talking about combining the entire operation.[104]
Bayer has signed a co-marketing deal in the US with GlaxoSmithKline for its new erectile dysfunction drug, which is seen as crucial to the German group's future. Bayer is hoping that the new treatment, Vardenafil, will fill part of the gap left by the August withdrawal of its anti-cholesterol drug Baycol. The deal with GSK will give Bayer a powerful US marketing partner to sell the drug against competition from better-known rivals such as Viagra, produced by drug giant Pfizer (Financial Times, 15 November 2001).[105]
In 2000, Bayer Corp. signed a collaborative agreement with PPL Therapeutics. PPL Therapeutics is one of the world's leading companies in the application of transgenic technology to the production of human proteins for therapeutic and nutraceutical use. PPL is also at the forefront of nuclear transfer (cloning) and gene targeting, and is known the world over for its creation of Dolly the Sheep.[106]
PPL Structure: PPL has a strong intellectual property portfolio and a multinational commercial base with facilities in three continents. PPL employs a workforce of approximately 200. Its corporate headquarters are in Scotland.[107]
PLL Therapeutics History: PPL began operations in 1987 in order to commercialise the production of proteins using transgenic technology which had been developed at the Animal Breeding Research Organisation, now the Roslin Institute, in Scotland. By 1991, with the birth of its first transgenic sheep, Tracy, producing human protein at approximately 40g/l in her milk, PPL was established as a leader in the transgenic production of human proteins.
Having established its corporate headquarters in Scotland, UK, in 1993 PPL extended its facilities through a strategic merger with TransPharm Inc, USA, to create the first multinational corporation producing recombinant proteins using transgenic technology. This event has provided the company with significant facilities within the USA to serve the increasing requirements of the North American markets.
PPL's transgenic bovine programs were established at this facility and its xenotransplantation and cell therapy programmes are currently being developed at its US facility. In 1994 the company was granted a US patent for its transgenic technology. This patent covers the use of the ovine ß-lactoglobulin gene promoter for the production of any protein in the milk of all species of transgenic livestock and the subsequent recovery of the protein from the milk.
PPL achieved significant progress in 1996. In June it became a public company listed on the London Stock Exchange. In the same year the company completed its unique £7.2 million (US$11 million) pilot production facility specifically built to collect and purify recombinant pharmaceuticals from the milk of transgenic animals. Its facilities and geographical base was further extended with the opening of a second transgenic sheep facility in New Zealand. At the end of 1996, the company began human clinical trials of its lead product, Alpha-1-Antitrypsin (AAT), a potential new treatment for patients with hereditary emphysema (AAT deficiency) and cystic fibrosis.[108]
PPL-Bayer Partnership: In 2000, PPL and Bayer Corporation signed a collaborative agreement to develop and commercialise an aerosol formulation of PPL's transgenic AAT product. AAT (alpha-1-antitrypsin, a human blood protein) is the company's lead product which will begin Phase III clinical trials in 2001 for the treatment of hereditary emphysema. The product is also being developed for the treatment of cystic fibrosis.
PPL and Bayer will collaborate initially to conduct a Phase III efficacy study for AAT deficiency and ultimately to manufacture and commercialise an aerosol formulation of transgenically produced rAAT world wide. PPL and Bayer will also collaborate on development of aerosol rAAT in a second clinical indication, cystic fibrosis. Under the agreement, Bayer will be responsible for and bear the costs of clinical development and marketing. Bayer made an upfront investment in PPL of US$15m and PPL will receive a number of milestone payments totalling US$25m, as progress is made in gaining marketing approvals. PPL will be responsible for exclusive product manufacturing and will receive a significant percentage of Bayer's revenues from sales of rAAT.
The signing of the marketing agreement with Bayer fulfilled a precondition for the funding package for the £42m large scale production facility for AAT, the completion of which is due in 2004.
Go to News [6] for the latest company releases, including further AAT information.[109]
Bayer press release on their partnership with PPL: http://www.bayerbiologicals.com/html/global_utilities/newscenter/press_release1.html (Source: Bayer, date viewed: 19.01.02)
Dolly the Sheep: The first mammal cloned from an adult cell. Born 5th July 1996 in Scotland. Produced through nuclear transfer (cloning) from a differentiated adult cell. At the end of 1997 Dolly was mated with a Welsh Mountain ram and produced a female lamb, Bonnie, on 13th April 1998.[110]
The scientists who created Dolly the Sheep have recently revealed that Dolly has developed arthritis at the relatively young age of five and a half. "The fact that Dolly has arthritis at this comparatively young age suggests there may be problems," Ian Wilmut of the Roslin Institute in Scotland told the BBC. But, he added: "We cannot ever know whether this is the result of cloning or just an unhappy coincidence."
'PPL Therapeutics lost 15 per cent of its share value following the news of Dolly's arthritis. But the shares had surged 40 per cent the day before after a press release announced the birth of genetically modified pig clones (see below).
In November 2001, US cloning company Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) said detailed investigations of 24 surviving calf clones revealed all were normal. But overall, Wilmut pointed out at the time, 73 per cent of pregnancies ended in abortion and 20 per cent of the cloned calves died soon after birth. Evidence of severe pregnancy complications and defects caused by cloning have been widely reported by cattle cloners. There have been instances of dramatically oversized calves, enlarged tongues, intestinal blockages, immune deficiencies and diabetes.'[111]
Visit NewScientist.com for related up-to-date stories on cloning: http://www.newscientist.com/hottopics/cloning/
PPL cloned 'Knock-out' pigs: PPL Therapeutics announced (2 January 2002) it has produced 'knock-out' piglets which were born as a result of using nuclear transfer (cloning) and PPL's patented gene targeting technology. The five healthy births took place on Christmas Day, 25 December 2001. The company declares it has always been the objective of PPL's xenotransplantation programme to produce ' knock-out' pigs. In future, this step should enable organs and/or cells from such animals to be transplanted into humans and not be rejected by the human recipient. A 'knock-out' pig has the specific gene that leads to the human immune system rejecting pig organs inactivated. Further details at: http://www.biotechanalytics.com/News/p/ppl.htm (Source: BioTech Analytics, date viewed: 19.01.02).
Mapping of the human genome is a high priority for Bayer. To meet this challenge, Bayer entered into various partnerships. In 1998 Bayer entered into the world's largest genome research alliance with the US company Millennium Pharmaceuticals. Since then 300 Millennium experts have been working exclusively for Bayer.
Millennium is a leading drug discovery and development company. The company focuses on three disease targets -- cancer, metabolic diseases, and inflammation -- but revenue is primarily from R&D alliances with such companies as Bayer (27%; it owns about 10% of the firm), Monsanto (22%), and American Home Products. Abbott Labs and Millennium are developing a metabolism-boosting obesity drug candidate that targets a gene that may prompt the body to store fat.[112]
To process the genetic data Bayer needs powerful computers. In other words, work in the laboratories is supplemented by bioinformatics. Bayer's partner in this field is LION Bioscience AG, based in Heidelberg, Germany (Bayer Annual Report, 2000).[113]
LION bioscience AG is a developer of enterprise-wide R&D data analysis and information management systems and solutions for the life sciences and healthcare industry, enabling the use of IT for drug discovery.[114] Deals with Bayer represent 60% of the firm's revenues. With the life sciences division of IBM, it is developing faster, more powerful drug discovery tools.[115]
A licensing agreement with biotechnology company MorphoSys AG in Munich has given Bayer access to a library containing more than one billion different human antibodies (Bayer press release, 31 January 2000). In January 2000, Bayer gained access to a database of more than 480 patented human genes for research purposes through an agreement with the US company Incyte Pharmaceuticals.
MorphoSys is a biotechnology enterprise, which develops and uses technologies for the discovery of new medicaments and illness-relevant goal molecules. The company has dozens of license and co-operation agreements with other pharmaceutical and biotechnological enterprises, such as Millennium Pharmaceuticals and CPG AG. MorphoSys has patented HuCAL, the Human Combinatorial Antibody Library. HuCAL's combination of features such as fully human composition of antibodies, high-throughput optimisation and big quantity production make it an ideal source of research and therapeutic antibodies.[116]
Incyte Pharmaceuticals Inc. is a leading provider of an integrated platform of genomic technologies designed to aid in the understanding of the molecular basis of disease. Collaborations: Abbott, ARIAD, BASF, Bayer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Genetech, Hoechst, Hoffmann La-Roche, Johnson & Johnson, Monsanto, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Organon, Pfizer, Pharmacia & Upjohn, Rhone Poulenc, Schering AG, SmithKline Beecham, Zeneca.[117]
In March 2000, Bayer signed a research and licensing agreement with the UK company Oxford GlycoScience (OGS) in the field of proteomics technology, the comprehensive study of proteins. OGS is a spinoff of Oxford University. The collaboration is initially for two years.[118]
Bayer has signed an agreement with US biotechnology company Avigen Inc., granting Bayer worldwide marketing and distribution rights for Coagulin-B, a gene therapy treatment for hemophillia B.[119]
Avigen is engaged in the development of gene therapy products for the treatment of inherited and acquired diseases.[120]
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Agriculture: In agrochemicals as in healthcare, Bayer claims to be assembling a cutting-edge research platform. Biotechnology plays a key role on that stage. An important aspect of Bayer's crop protection research strategy is collaboration with entrepreneurial companies. Bayer has formed alliances with Paradigm Genetics in herbicides, LION Bioscience in fungicides and with Genoptera, the joint venture between Exelixis and Bayer AG's crop protection business group.[121]
Paradigm Genetics determines the functions of specific genes (mainly for agricultural purposes). Paradigm's revenue sources include an agreement with Bayer to develop herbicides, a partnership with Monsanto focused on crop protection and nutrition, and a grant from the US Department of Energy. It is buying Celera's AgGen unit to expand its operations.[122]
Genoptera was formed in January 2000 to discover new insecticides and nematicides. The joint venture is a continuation and expansion of a 1998 venture between Bayer and Exelixis. In addition to the $80 million in committed research funding over the course of the eight-year venture, Exelixis receives performance-based milestone and royalty payments from Bayer. Bayer has the exclusive right to commercialise insecticides based on technology developed by Genoptera.[123] Exelixis (Greek for "evolution") gathers and compares genetic data from fruit flies, roundworms, and other organisms to speed the development of drugs, insecticides, and animal health products. Exelixis bought Genomica to expand its drug discovery operations. Exelixis' partners include Pharmacia (about 40% of revenues) and Bristol-Myers Squibb.[124]
Chemicals: Bayer has planned to create a joint venture with Japanese companies Honshu and Mitsui. Honshu Chemical Industry will build a production facility for specialty bisphenols in Bitterfeld-Wolfen immediately adjacent to the site of Bayer Bitterfeld GmbH. These raw materials are used at Bayer for the production of highly heat-resistant Apec polycarbonate. The facility will have an annual capacity of some 5,000 tons and will cost some EUR 38 million to build. It is scheduled to go on stream at the end of 2003 and will create about 35 new jobs (Bayer press release 13 December 2001).[125]
Industrial Park Walsrode (see section on chemicals) is currently home to Bayer's units and subsidiaries in the chemical and plastics processing industry. The aim is to attract more companies to the site. For further information see: http://www.industriepark-walsrode.de/index.cfm?PAGE_ID=1254
Bayer's Chemical Parks Bayer sites in Brunsbuttel, Dormagen, Leverkusen and Uerdingen have evolved as chemical parks. These sites offer a total of more than 643 acres of land for use by other companies, combined with infrastructure and a network for all kinds of chemicals.[126] Particular opportunities exist for partners from the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, as well as for service companies to those industries and manufacturers which use chemical products as their raw materials. Such companies have the option of constructing their own plants or leasing facilities at the Chemical Parks, utilising the existing infrastructure and services.[127]
Polymers: Ground was broken on Wednesday, October 17, 2001, for the construction of a polymer production facility for DuBay Polymer GmbH, a newly founded joint venture between DuPont (see forthcoming corporate profile) and Bayer. The capital invested in the plant is over EUR 50 million, and production is due to start in 2003. "With a capacity of 80,000 metric tonnes per year," said Dr. Jürgen Dahmer, head of the Bayer Plastics Business Group, "we are setting up the world's biggest production facility for polybutylene terephthalate (PBT)."[128]
Bayer AG and Monsanto are old friends. 'In 1954 Bayer AG formed a joint venture with Monsanto Chemical Corp., which was called Mobay Chemical Corp. In 1967, Bayer acquired Monsanto's 50 percent ownership in Mobay, making it a wholly owned subsidiary.[129] In 1995 Bayer acquired Monsanto's styrenics business. Monsanto kept managing the plastics operation under an operating agreement with Bayer.[130]
Online business-to-business (B2B) transactions Bayer is expanding its activities in electronic commerce, and within a few years the company will be doing about 5 billion Euro a year in business through Internet auctions, electronic marketplaces or interactive customer portals (Bayer Annual Report 2000). Bayer is both a participant in and co-founder of a number of large electronic B2B marketplaces, at which raw materials and products, supplies, scientific expertise and services, even complete pre-assembled systems for production facilities are traded.
An example of such an Internet marketplace is Omnexus (www.omnexus.com) for thermoplastics, founded by major chemical companies such as BASF, Dow, DSM, DuPont and Solvay.[131]
4. Influence / Lobbying 4.1. Lobby Groups
* 4.1.1. Bayer's lobby activities on the global level
* 4.1.2. Bayer's lobby activities in the United States
* 4.1.3. Bayer's lobby activities in Europe
- 4.2. Influencing Research and Education
- 4.3. Bayer and Public Relations (PR) Companies
* 4.3.1. PR Companies used by Bayer
* 4.3.2. PR stories involving Bayer
4. INFLUENCE/ LOBBYING
4.1. Lobby Groups
- 4.1.1. Bayer's lobby activities on the global level
- 4.1.2. Bayer's lobby activities in the United States
- 4.1.3. Bayer's lobby activities in Europe
Since Bayer has tentacles in the pharmaceutical, biotech, chemical, and polymer sectors, the company participates in an innumerable amount of lobby groups in order to safeguard its interests in all these fields. Bayer's economic and political clout enables the company to penetrate all major regulatory, standard-setting, legislative, multilateral and/or governmental institutions. In addition, the company has strong historical links with the German government (see also crime section) and can count on the support of other governments, in particular the US government (see also section on links with governments).
Even if one forgets about the high level of secrecy and commercial confidentiality (seriously restricting people's ability to gain a full insight into Bayer's or any other major multinational corporation's political practices), it is impossible to give a complete overview of all groups, deals and schemes Bayer is involved in.
Following the listing of some issues of major importance for Bayer, an (by no means complete) overview of the most important lobby groups of which Bayer is part, and of the major (mainly regulatory) bodies that are being targeted by Bayer (individually or through lobby groups) will be presented. Be aware that major corporations are often part of the institutions they target, not so much formally but informally (e.g. through participation in advisory groups, links with high-positioned bureaucrats and politicians, by drafting proposals and setting agendas, etc.).
Important issues for Bayer: Health care reforms in the US; progression of biotechnology and mapping of the human genome; expansion of markets for genetically modified organisms (GMO's); completion of the EU Single Market; introduction of the Euro; progression of so-called free trade and the WTO agenda; liberalisation of markets; patenting of medicines (securing the big drug profits); implementation and strengthening of the TRIPs agreement (patent legislation); lowering of chemical threshold values (e.g. the allowable chemical threshold values at working places); downgrading of environmental and consumer protections (or preventing the creation of new, strict so-called social regulation); minimising liability (for their committed crimes, see crime section).
4.1.1. Bayer's lobby activities on the global level
International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) 'The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) is the world's single largest corporate lobby group. The Paris-based ICC was founded in 1919 and has thousands of member companies in over 130 countries. Although the organisation calls itself the 'World Business Organisation', it is clearly dominated by large transnational corporations who use the influence of the ICC to promote an international political and economic climate that is favourable to their interests.'[132]
On the ICC and the Global Compact (see below) research and campaign group Corporate Europe Observatory says: 'The ICC has a long history of vigorously lobbying to weaken international environmental treaties and these efforts have continued even after the group has pledged support for the Global Compact principles. Examples include the Kyoto Protocol, the Convention on Biodiversity, and the Basel Convention against trade in toxic waste. In all of these UN negotiations, the International Chamber's obstructive lobbying is in direct opposition to the Global Compact principles it has pledged to pursue.'[133]
Transatlantic Business Dialogue (TABD) Established in 1995, the TABD is undoubtedly the most far reaching international corporate-state alliance. With a mandate from the US government and the European Commission, the 150 large corporations that make up the TABD work meticulously to identify "barriers to transatlantic trade." In effect, this means any regulation or policy proposal that does not fit the corporate agenda on either side of the Atlantic.[134] The TABD fully supports the rules and principles of the World Trade Organisation.
Berlin hosted the TABD 1999 annual meeting. The meeting was attended by the chief executives of 100 companies and by WTO's general director Mike Moore. Werner Spinner, board member of Bayer was led meeting.
For more information on the TABD, visit Corporate Europe Observatory at: http://www.xs4all.nl/~ceo/tabd/index.html
Transatlantic Economic Partnership 'In response to lobbying by business leaders, the Transatlantic Economic Partnership was established with the aim of closer EU-US co-ordination on trade issues, to improve the business environment and increase trade and investment on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as co-ordinating policy with regards to multilateral fora such as the WTO. However, the areas of co-operation mainly reflect the interests of EU and US transnational corporations where 'free trade' and access to markets for trade are viewed as more important that sustainable development.'[135]
World Economic Forum or the Davos Group The World Economic Forum (WEF) brings together 1,000 of the world's top multinational companies in an annual meeting at the luxury ski resort of Davos, Switzerland. In 2002 the Forum will moved to New York, because the costs of safeguarding security up in the Swiss mountains had grown too high. The WEF gives companies a chance to meet with many of the world's political and media leaders and Director-Generals of organisations such as the World Trade Organisation, the World Bank and the OECD. WEF homepage: http://www.weforum.org/
The Bilderberg Group The Bilderberg Group does not publicise its activities and little is known about its influence, although it is considered by many to be one of the most powerful groupings of industry and politics. Its members appear to be individuals rather than organisations, though presumably organisations are represented. It meets at least once a year.[136]
United Nations Global Compact 'The Global Compact –a pact between the United Nations (more specifically, the UNEP) and multinational corporations-- consists of a list of very general principles for corporate social, environmental and human rights behaviour. From the day of its launch, at the 1999 World Economic Forum, the Global Compact has been criticised by many citizen organisations and movements. Its first year of existence shows that the critics were right: corporations have been given a free ride. They have been able to use the Global Compact - the UN's seal of approval - to improve their public image, without any tangible changes in their overall corporate social, environmental or human rights behaviour.'[137]
CorpWatch USA lists both Bayer and Aventis (recently acquired by Bayer and 'one of the companies behind the $50 million per year PR campaign to gain acceptance for transgenic foods') as companies that are part of the Global Compact while having appalling human rights and environmental records.[138] Consumer and agricultural watchdog groups accused (14 June 2001) Aventis of failing to uphold a UN code of business conduct to which it had agreed. The StarLink fiasco was at the centre of the accusation.
'The company's genetically modified StarLink corn, which had been approved only for animal use but turned up (in 2000) in human foods, including taco shells. This company is in clear violation." said Gabrielle Flora of the Minnesota-based Institute for Agriculture and Food Policy (IAFP), arguing the company failed to abide by the UN's environmental standards. "This erodes the credibility of the United Nations." But UN officials said the Global Compact is a "learning forum" aimed at helping companies better their business practices - not a rigid set of guidelines.'[139]
Codex Alimentarius Codex Alimentarius, which means "food code" in Latin, is the name of a United Nations commission that operates as part of the World Health Organization. The Codex Alimentarius Commission's mandate is to set international standards for trade in all kinds of food products. Its concerns include raw- and processed-food standards, pesticide and other contaminant levels, nutritional content, and labelling. Codex also is concerned with global trade rules for health supplements.
'The Codex commission meets in Rome or Geneva every two years, with smaller get-togethers in various locales all over the world at other times. While it is concerned with protecting the health of consumers, it's also a trade group, and of the international organisations that send delegates to Codex, more than 90 percent represent large multinational corporations.'[140]
Proposals to turn as many nutrients as possible into prescription drugs were originally put forward by the German delegation to the commission, a panel sponsored by three giant drug companies-Hoechst, Bayer, and BASF. In this way many supplements may cease to be reasonably priced over-the-counter-items.[141] In other words, the pharmaceutical industry attempts to increase prices of food supplements including safe natural health products, and monopolises the market. In this way the industry undermines people's freedom of choice by restricting their access to food supplements, all through a process of secretive negotiation between the industry, their allies in government and Codex.
World Trade Organisation (WTO) Like the Codex Alimentarius (see above) the WTO is obviously not a lobby group, but a multilateral institute whose trade rules (binding for nearly all nation states) are of vital importance for multinational corporations. WTO trade rules aim to foster so-called free trade and include regulations related to intellectual property rights (the TRIPs agreement). Basically, the TRIPs agreement was drafted by the pharmaceutical industry, and as a consequence the agreement strongly supports and safeguards the industry's interests, at high social costs. You can read about this in the pharmaceutical sector overview. Other so-called innovative industries, such as the biotech and chemical industry, also benefit from the TRIPs agreement and lobby for its full implementation.
The International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA is an organisation of leading trade organisations representing almost 80% of chemical manufacturing worldwide (see below). ICCA's priorities for the recently launched new trade round include elimination of chemical tariffs by 2010; clarification of the relationship between trade and environment; harmonisation of anti-dumping practices; and full implementation of the TRIPs agreement.[142]
International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations (IFPMA) IFPMA represents the research-based pharmaceutical industry and other manufacturers of prescription medicines, worldwide. IFPMA homepage: http://www.ifpma.org/
International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) 'The International Council of Chemical Associations is a council of leading trade associations representing chemical manufacturers worldwide. The ICCA provides a forum for regular meetings of executives from the member associations to discuss policy issues of international interest to the chemical industry. In addition, the ICCA may make policy statements or develop programs where consensus is reached among the council's member associations. The purpose of the ICCA is to exchange views among members, to co-ordinate action by council members, and to present an international chemical industry view to organisations. Such organisations would primarily be inter-governmental agencies (e.g., GATT/WTO, IMO, UNEP, OECD and international private organisations (e.g., the International Standards Organization, ISO).'[143]
'Policy issues of international significance to the chemical manufacturing industry form the agenda of the ICCA. Such issues include health, safety, and the environment; international transport safety; intellectual property; trade policy; and, industry efforts to eliminate chemical weapons and diversion to illegal drugs. ICCA promotes and co-ordinates Responsible Care and other voluntary chemical industry initiatives.'[144]
Responsible Care aims to portray the chemical sector as applying uniformly high occupational health and safety and environmental standards wherever the industry operates. It has been the industry's main response to critics of its social and environmental record. Responsible Care programmes have been introduced in many parts of the world sometimes backed by lavish advertising campaigns. However, the programmes have often lacked public credibility.[145]
International Maritime Organization (IMO) The IMO was set up in 1949 under auspices of the United Nations. The UN body deals with various safety issues related to shipping, including pollution. The adoption of maritime legislation is the IMO's most important concern. Around 40 conventions and protocols have been adopted by the Organisation. The IMO helps governments put the legislation into effect.[146]
The IMO adopted the International Convention on the control of harmful anti-fouling systems on ships on 5 October 2001. This convention prohibits the use of harmful organotins in anti-fouling paints used on ships and establishes a mechanism to prevent the potential future use of other harmful substances in anti-fouling systems. It will probably take at least a year until the new convention can be brought into force.
Anti-fouling paints are used to coat the bottoms of ships to prevent sea life such as algae and molluscs attaching themselves to the hull – thereby slowing down the ship and increasing fuel consumption.[147] Anti-fouling paints contain organotins. Their detrimental effects on the environment were first noticed in oyster farms on the Atlantic coast of France in the late 1970s. Since then, increased levels of organotins have been found world-wide in marine organisms further up the food chain, such as fish, seabirds and marine mammals. These chemicals have been shown to have hormone-disrupting properties in some species, and humans could also face health risks if they consume contaminated fish.[148] Tributyltin (TBT) is an organotic, and is the most toxic chemical ever deliberately released into the seas.
International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies from some 140 countries, one from each country. ISO is a non-governmental organisation established in 1947. The mission of ISO is to promote the development of standardisation and related activities in the world with a view to facilitating the international exchange of goods and services, and to developing co-operation in the spheres of intellectual, scientific, technological and economic activity.[149] ISO is the source of ISO 9000 (= a family of standards which are referred to under this generic title for convenience) and more than 13 000 International Standards for business, government and society.[150]
International Labour Organisation (ILO) The ILO is an UN body setting standards on, among other things, chemical safety at workplaces. ILO homepage: http://www.ilo.org/
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Multinationals such as Bayer work with UNEP because this co-operation provides them with valuable greenwash opportunities (see Global Compact above). Also, many environmental conventions setting (mainly voluntary) guidelines for industry are set up under auspices of the UNEP. Therefore it is of vital importance for multinationals to have a big finger in the UNEP pie. Generally, industry -in order to safeguard economic growth goals- tries to prevent Conventions such as those on Climate Change, Biodiversity, Ozone Depletion and Toxic Pollution from setting environmental standards which have any substance.
Stockholm POP Convention read more...
Assessment of Toxic Substances read more...
World Bank Just like the United Nations, the World Bank increasingly works with multinational corporations. The private sector is being considered as a vital part of solutions to global problems. Multinationals gladly take this opportunity to strengthen their image as 'caretakers of the world's poor', to set and influence the global agenda and policies (see next paragraph) and to safeguard their business in/trade with poor countries.
Pharmaceutical companies use aid programs to get rid of expired or banned medicines and/or to do medical experiments in developing countries (see pharmaceutical sector overview). The chemical industry increasingly re-locates chemical production plants to developing countries where environmental and labour regulations are lax and bribing opportunities are affluent. Also, the chemical industry is notorious for dumping toxic chemicals -expired or banned in the west- in developing countries through developing aid.
Greenpeace recently (October 2001) cleared a contaminated site in Nepal. The deadly substances were found, including banned pesticides such as dieldrin, chlorinated organomercury compounds and DDT. They were manufactured and imported to Nepal by Western multinationals some 20 years ago. All the poisons were donated to Nepal or channelled through international aid mechanisms in order to open markets. An estimated 500,000 metric tonnes of obsolete pesticides have been abandoned worldwide, mainly in developing countries. They are usually stored in poor conditions, often in residential areas or even next to schools.[157]
Future of Agriculture On December 5, 2000, the World Bank hosted a roundtable discussion on agricultural science and technology with 13 CEOs from major agribusiness companies (including Monsanto, BASF, DowAgroSciences, Syngenta, DuPont, Cargill, Aventis and Bayer). The goal of the meeting was to get private sector perspective on how to increase food security and agricultural productivity in an environmentally and socially sustainable manner.
The following issue was one of key points discussed: 'Agricultural science and research, not limited to, but including biotechnology, is a key component in addressing food security. Presently, much of the world's agricultural research, particularly in biotechnology, is done by the private sector. In order to successfully continue working in this area, private companies must provide shareholder returns. As a result, they are not likely to meet most of the developing countries' agricultural research needs.'[158] In other words, since poor people have no money, they have no voice, and their needs are being ignored by the private sector.
The G-7 Pesticide Industry's Stake in the World Bank The World Bank's Policy on Pest Management. Since 1982, NGOs and consumer organisations have been putting pressure on the World Bank to improve its pest management activities and reduce pesticide use. In response, the Bank has released a series of policies on pest management, beginning in 1985, and in 1988 it convened a panel of experts to advise the Bank on pesticide issues. However, the World Bank's current pest management policy is very weak and heavily focused on industrial agriculture instead of organic, farmer-led agriculture.
Companies in G-7 countries clearly profit from the World Bank's agricultural lending, as do pesticide producers in other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nations. The Bank claims that from January 1988 to January 1995, it financed US$250.75 million worth of pesticide purchases from around the world. The main beneficiaries in terms of sales were: Rhone Poulenc, BASF, Zeneca, Sumitomo, FMC Corp., Helm, Bayer, Roussel Uclaf, Cyanamid, Air Lloyd, and Hoechst.
This support for agrochemicals calls into question the Bank's commitment to environmentally sustainable development, which the Bank has institutionalised in part by its participation in the Global Environment Facility (GEF), a joint UN-World Bank project.
World Bank-approved contracts support many chemicals requiring the use of protective gear and separate storage facilities, yet the realities of life in developing countries mean that the poorest people don't have access to such protections. Furthermore, two of the Pesticide Action Network's "Dirty Dozen" pesticides appear in these contracts: paraquat and DDT.
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4.1.2. Bayer's lobby activities in the United States
Bayer's largest business is in the United States. Health care reforms in the US are of vital importance for Bayer and the pharmaceutical industry in general. Last year (2000), the drug industry spent more money on lobbying in Washington than any other sector, which is not hard to explain. 'The drug industry has much to protect in Washington, mainly because the industry receives so many favours and privileges from the federal government. The government has conferred on the industry monopoly patents and patent extensions (which keep lower-priced generic drugs off the market), tax credits worth billions of dollars a year, and research subsidies for both the most medically important drugs and also the top-selling ones.'[159]
You can read in a Public Citizens report (published July 2001) how the pharmaceutical industry fought in 2000, like never before, against the looming threat that Congress and president Clinton would provide senior citizens with drug coverage under Medicare. Medicare is the country's largest health insurance program for people 65 and over. The report claims that the drug industry launched a unprecedented blitz of lobbying, campaign contributions, and so-called 'issue' ads to help its political allies and help its enemies (see also [upcoming] section on 'links with governments').[160]
In general, the drugs industry works hard to fight off any proposals that might moderate its prices or profits. The fight is carried out by a large army of well-connected lobbyists in Washington DC. Bayer Corp. ranks number 23 in the category 'lobbying expenditures and number of lobbyists for drug companies and trade groups' in 2000.[161] That's quite high for a multinational with its home base outside the US. Obviously Bayer's lobbying efforts are not confined to drug issues. Bayer also puts its weight behind issues of relevance to its chemical, polymer and biotech interests. The company influences the policymaking processes in these fields, e.g. by targeting relevant regulatory and policymaking/governmental bodies.
A list of major US-based business lobby groups will be presented below.
The United States Council on International Business (USCIB) The United States Council for International Business was founded in 1945 to promote an open system of world trade, investment, and finance. It has a membership of over 300 multinational companies, law firms, and business associations. It is the US affiliate of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the Business and Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC) to the OECD and the International Organisation of Employers (UNICE). USCIB homepage: http://www.uscib.org/
PhRMA The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) represents the research-based pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in the US. Bayer Corporation Pharmaceutical Division is one of PhRMA's members. PhRMA homepage: http://www.phrma.org/
Biotechnology Industry Organisation (BIO) BIO is the largest trade organisation serving and representing the emerging biotechnology industry in the US. Bayer Corporation is among BIO's members. Bayer's Wolf-Dieter Busse is member of the BIO Board of Directors 2001-2002. www.bio.org/
The American Medical Association (AMA) The AMA dominates ideas within the US medical community and has, as critics claim, a bias against alternative medicine. If the AMA dislike a particular health care approach, they work to prohibit these practices in hospitals and suspend the medical licenses of any doctor who uses them. They have often been able to rely upon state licensing boards and legislatures, and even the US Congress, to pass laws outlawing natural healing methods. Many new health care discoveries have remained underground. Inexpensive, non-toxic and unpatentable natural healing methods have never been seriously or honestly evaluated by the AMA-FDA pharmaceutical-dominated medical establishment.[162] AMA homepage: www.ama-assn.org/
Chemical Manufacturers Association (CMA) The Chemical Manufacturers Association (or the American Chemistry Council) represents the leading companies engaged in the business of chemistry. The business of chemistry is a $460 billion enterprise and a key element of the nation's economy. It is the nation's largest exporter, accounting for ten cents out of every dollar in US exports. The purpose of the Association shall be the promotion of the interests of the chemical manufacturing industry of the United States of America and Canada.'[163]
In 1996, the CMA was engaged in a major lawsuit against the EPA, seeking to block the regulators' plan to increase the number of chemicals about which information must be reported to the public under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act.[164]
After a strong year in 2000 the chemical industry felt the effects of both high oil prices and economic slowdown in 2001. CMA tries to hamper legislation that might worsen economic prospects even further. However, CMA foresees some positive prospects as well. It says military spending will provide a boost in engineering plastics, electronic chemicals and - unsurprisingly – explosives (Financial Times, 17 December 2001).[165] Bayer Corp. is a member of CMA CMA homepage: http://www.cmahq.com/
American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) 'Through the ACGIH, the Committee recommending threshold values for workplace exposure to chemicals, Bayer and other big chemical companies exert their influence on legislation. ACGIH passes resolutions on this issue and rates 30 substances per meeting and usually has to rely on individual expert opinions. But often these reports are written by toxicologists who are on the payroll of the big industry.
That is why, e.g., 40 products of Dow Chemicals were rated only by Dow- toxicologists and were classified "safe". Similar cases concerning Bayer, Exxon and DuPont have been heard of. In addition, the Committee members are influenced directly: They do not have to disclose their sources of income and thus the combines often provide Committee members with generous consultative contracts. The few independent experts complain that information is kept from them and that thorough examination is impossible because the Commission is understaffed.'[166]
Citizens for Better Medicare (CBM) CBM (the name is rather deceptive, as it insinuates that it is a genuine public interest group) was established as the lobbying and grass roots organising arm of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association (PhRMA). Citizens for Better Medicare was set up under Section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code, which governs political activity by non-profit organisations. It does not have to report its income or divulge its spending, so long as it sticks to issue advocacy and does not advocate the election or defeat of candidates.
Such groups can accept money from any source, including foreign corporations and individuals. The majority of the group's money indeed comes from drug makers. Several of the biggest members of the pharmaceutical association are the United States subsidiaries of European pharmaceutical concerns, including Bayer AG, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc., Glaxo Wellcome Plc., Hoechst Marion Roussel AG and Rhone-Poulenc Rorer Inc.[167]
'During the last election cycle, CBM launched one of the most expensive political advertising campaigns in American history. In 1999 and 2000 CBM spent an estimated $65 million on so-called 'issue' ads. Some of these thinly disguised issue ads supported Republican candidates and attacked Democratic candidates. What few of the Americans who saw the ads realised was that the group was created by the industry and staffed with industry veterans. To grasp how prominent CBM was in the 2000 election, consider that in the eight months leading up to election day, CBM ran 27% of all issue ads broadcast in the country by non-party groups –by far the most of any independent non-party group.'[168]
The Polyisocyanurate Insulation Manufacturers Association (PIMA) The Polyisocyanurate Insulation Manufacturers Association (PIMA) is the national trade association that advances the use of polyisocyanurate (polyiso) insulation. Polyiso is one of the nation's most widely used and cost-effective insulation products. PIMA's membership consists of manufacturers of polyiso insulation and of suppliers to the industry.[169] Bayer is a PIMA member.
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4.1.3. Bayer's lobby activities in Europe
Apart from being a member of the major influential business lobby groups working for a business-friendly Europe such as the European Roundtable of Industrialists (ERT), UNICE ('The Voice of Business in Europe') and the Transatlantic Business Dialogue (TABD), Bayer is part of innumerable lobby groups focussing on its needs in specific fields of interests. A selection of a few major ones will be listed below.
Pharmaceuticals/Biotechnology:
EuropaBio EuropaBio, the European Association for Bioindustries, represents over 40 member companies operating worldwide and 13 national biotechnology associations.[170] EuropaBio aims to be a promoting force for biotechnology.
The European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries Associations (EFPIA) The European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) is the representative voice of the pharmaceutical industry in Europe. Through its membership (national pharmaceutical industry associations and major companies), EFPIA represents the common views and interests of over 3,350 pharmaceutical companies undertaking research, development and manufacturing of medicinal products for human use in Europe. Bayer Director Dr. Morich is a member of the Board of the EFPIA. EFPIA homepage: http://www.efpia.org/
Animal Cell Technology Industrial Platform (ACTIP) ACTIP was established in November 1990 and aims to develop a common industrial view with regard to animal cell culture research and advises the European Commission on this issue. It also, among other things, informs the public of the positive contributions biotechnology makes through animal cell culture.[171] Animal cell technology is applied for the production of biopharmaceuticals, monoclonal antibodies, vaccines, gene therapy vectors and for safety testing. Members of ACTIP are European companies (including Bayer) with activities in animal cell technology. ACTIP homepage: www.actip.org/
European Life Sciences Forum (ELSF) ELSF was established in 1999 as a joint initiative by various organisations active in the field of life sciences, including the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO), the European Life Science Organisation (ELSO), the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), the Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS). ELSF claims to be 'a voice for European life science organisations' and aims to ensure that there is a relevant input from the scientific community in the planning of Europe's future with regard to life sciences.[172] Although Bayer is not formally part of the Forum, it exerts influence through its many connections with research bodies. ELSF website: http://www.elsf.org/
Chemicals: The EU chemical industry is one of EU's most international and competitive industries embracing a wide field of processing and manufacturing activities. The EU chemical industry accounts for 29% of estimated world production (valued at 1370 billion Euro in 1999). Around 1.7 million people are employed in the 34,000 EU chemicals firms.[173] Germany is the largest chemicals producer in Europe, followed by France, the UK and Italy.[174] Bayer ranks number 5 among the world's biggest chemical companies, following BASF, DuPont, DowChemical and Exxon-Mobil.[175]
The European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC) reported disappointing results for 2000, but expects the chemical output growth of the EU chemical industry to recover in 2001. Industrial segments were more seriously affected than consumer related markets and pharmaceuticals, which continued to spearhead growth.[176]
According to CEFIC's latest forecast (29 November 2001) the longer term prospects of the industry remain positive. CEO of AtoFina and Chairman of the CEFIC International Trade and Competitiveness Programme Council Francois Cornelis said: "Over time the new WTO trade round, the eastward enlargement of the EU, the introduction of the Euro and the continued liberalisation of the EU gas and electricity markets should provide a solid basis to our industry, enabling it to continue playing a leading role in the world as a provider of key technology products."[177]
On the contrary, restrictive legislation can hamper the chemical industry. The EU Parliament recently (November 2001) called for more sophisticated and widespread chemical tests to assess their health and environmental impact. Unsurprisingly, Europe's chemicals industry, particularly in Germany, strongly opposes any move towards wider testing.
There are currently over 100,000 registered chemicals, 30,000 of which have an annual production of more than one tonne and are often found in products in everyday use. But of these, only 140 have been put on a priority list for testing and possible risk reduction measures in the EU. World production of chemicals has shot up to 400 million tonnes from near one million in 1930, the published Parliament report said, but it has not been followed by adequate screening for toxicity. Bertil Herrink, director of EU government affairs for CEFIC, emphasised there is no need for extra precautions and stressed his concern about the lack of workability of new, restrictive regulation.[178]
European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC) 'The European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC) is a major player in the EU's decision-making process, and its toxic influence is increasingly perceptible in the international arena as well. CEFIC's dual strategy involves blocking government intervention while at the same time promoting questionable self-regulation initiatives for the chemical industry.'[179]
'The Brussels-based CEFIC, founded in 1972, is a complex cocktail of national federations, individual companies, issue-based lobby organisations and 'senior advisory groups' of chemical industries which together represent 30% of global chemical production. Eleven members of the European Roundtable of Industrialists (ERT) also lobby with CEFIC, among them chemical giants Bayer, ICI and Rhône-Poulenc. Represented on CEFIC's board are biotech lobby group EuropaBio, APPE (Association of Petrochemical Producers in Europe) and ECPA (European Crop Protection Association). CEFIC also includes two influential senior advisory groups: SAGEP which deals with trade and economic issues, and SAGE which focuses on environment.'[180]
Bayer Director Dr. Molnar is a member of CEFIC.
Read more about the CEFIC in Corporate Europe Observatory's newsletter. Although it is a bit out-of-date it provides a valuable insight into this Toxic Lobby: http://www.xs4all.nl/~ceo/observer1/cefic.html
European Chemical Employers Group, ECEG The formation of a new group called the European Chemical Employers Group, ECEG, to promote open dialogue between the chemical unions and the chemical industry was announced today at the 2nd "European Social Partner Conference of the Chemical Industry" in Berlin (December 2001).
The Group has been formed as a part of CEFIC to enable National Federations of the chemical industry and Chemical Employer's Associations to meet and talk in a structured way at the European level with social partners.[181]
Back to top 4.2. Influencing Research and Education
This section presents a few examples of Bayer's interference with research and education. Obviously Bayer aims to contribute to the creation of a knowledge framework and workforce beneficial and suited to its own corporate, profit-driven needs. The company hereby seriously endangers the (ideally) independent nature of research and education necessary to create knowledge that will benefit individual people (in the unfolding of their potentials) and human society as a whole. The examples below are categorised, but the lines between categories blur.
BAYER'S RESEARCH & EDUCATION PROJECTS
Bayer: Making Science Make Sense (MSMS) "As a science and research-based company with major businesses in health care and life sciences and chemicals, Bayer Corporation has a solid stake in helping to ensure that today's students are well prepared for tomorrow's workplace. Educating the public about the importance of science literacy, supporting science programs for students and teachers, and encouraging employee volunteerism are at the heart of Bayer's integrated approach." Bayer Corp. about Making Science Make Sense [182]
'Bayer's Making Science Make Sense initiative advances science literacy across the United States through hands-on, inquiry-based science learning, employee volunteerism and public education.'[183] Further details: http://www.bayerus.com/msms/index_flash.html
Bayer Institute for Health Care Communication The mission of the Bayer Institute for Health Care Communication is 'to enhance the quality of health care by improving the communication between clinician and patient through three major activities: education, research, and advocacy.
The Institute works with health care organisations to conduct research and provides educational opportunities for clinicians so they can develop the communication skills they need to be effective.
The Institute's first efforts began in 1987. Since that time more than 3,500 workshops have been conducted for more than 40,000 clinicians and health care workers. Grants have been made to investigators to develop new knowledge about clinician-patient communication.[184] Institute's homepage: http://www.bayerinstitute.org/
Bayer's Patient Education Center Through its Patient Education Center Bayer Diagnostics claims to be 'committed to engaging our customers in a lifetime relationship for optimal health.' http://www.bayerdiag.com/resources/pages/education.html
Bayer exclusively sponsors two continuing education meetings for veterinarians each year. Read about it at: http://www.aaep.org/education_partners.asp
PARTNERSHIPS IN HIGHER EDUCATION
The Bayer School of Natural and Environmental Sciences offers a five year BS/MS and graduate degrees in their Environmental Science and Management Program. The Bayer School is part of the Duquesne University: Center for Environmental Education & Research, Pittsburgh.[185]
Berkeley Biotechnology Education Inc. (BBEI) BBEI is a two-part education-to-employment program for Berkeley students housed at the Biotech Academy at Berkeley High School and Laney College's Biotech Career Institute. The program was designed as part of the development plan between Bayer and the City of Berkeley.
To initiate the program, Bayer scientists and technicians worked with teachers at Berkeley High School and Peralta Community College District to develop a curriculum that would emphasise hands-on learning and train students in the skills necessary for employment in the biotech industry. Read more: http://www.bayerpharma-na.com/community/ba04.asp
INTERFERING WITH SCHOOL CURRICULA
Operation Clean Hands People do not wash their hands as often or as well as they think they do, risking poor health and the spread of infection. That's the finding of a recent survey of people's hand washing habits conducted in public toilets across the United States by the American Society of Microbiology (ASM) and Bayer Corporation's Pharmaceutical Division. In response to those findings, Bayer and ASM recently launched Operation Clean Hands, a campaign to educate Americans about health risks associated with poor hand washing habits. Operation Clean Hands is working its way into schools and into the school curriculum too. Read more: http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/curr016.shtml
Bayer $25,000 grant expands science education Bayer Corp. has given Johnston County Schools a check for $25,000 to expand the Making Science Make Sense program (see above) from four to nine schools. Within five years, the program will be instituted in all 23 county elementary and middle schools
Public relations and marketing manager for Bayer McKernan said: "We choose this initiative because Bayer is a science-minded company, and we want to make sure through the school system that we are promoting science literacy. If they get into science when they're young, they'll stay in it."
Poland (a teacher) said it is very difficult to provide hands-on science education without the Bayer grant because there are few resources available for materials.[186]
Washington Lands Elementary School's Partners in Education Bayer Corporation, American Electric Power (AEP), Rax Restaurant, Domino's Pizza, and the Moundsville Kroger are "Partners in Education" with Washington Lands Elementary School. The Environmental Testing Services Laboratory at Bayer Corporation developed their web site [7] as part of this program.
AWARDS
Bayer/NSF Award 'Encouraging kids to take a fresh look at science and the world around them is what the Bayer/NSF Award for Community Innovation is all about. Partnering with the National Science Foundation and other key organisations, Bayer asks teams of middle school kids to identify a problem or opportunity in their community and use the scientific process to solve it.'[187]
Bayer Rubber Corporation Award for High School Chemistry Teachers http://www.chem-inst-can.org/award_bayer.html
The Diabetes Educator Section (DES) presents Awards and Grants annually Major pharmaceutical companies sponsor the awards. Bayer sponsored an award designed to support innovative educational research. http://www.diabetes.ca/prof/des_awards.html
TEACHING FREE TRADE & BIOTECH BLESSINGS
American Soybean Association/Bayer Corporation Soybean Trade Expansion Program (STEP) STEP aims to convince the general farm populace, as well as the general public, about the importance of and need for trade expansion/trade liberalisation for US soybeans.
'Through a series of informative articles, strides will be made in heightening awareness to these issues… ASA and Bayer will jointly determine target publications. Bayer Corporation will be formally recognised in all articles.'[188]
Co-operation with the US government: 'Funding from United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) is a key component of ASA's export promotion activities.' To ensure the continued success of US soybean export promotion activities, ASA lobbies Congress to approve certain legislation beneficial to the industry.
To motivate grassroots support for this type of legislation, producer education efforts about the opportunities for increased exports of US soybeans and soy products had to be heightened through various means. Bayer Corporation was recognised for its STEP support through all elements.[189]
Back to top 4.3. Bayer and Public Relations (PR) Companies
4.3.1 PR Companies used by Bayer 4.3.2. PR stories involving Bayer
'The public relations (PR) business is one of the fastest growing industries in the global market economy. In order to face perils like labour unions, organised consumer activists and environmental groups, governments and corporations have come to rely more on slick PR campaigns. The peril to popular democracy posed by PR firms should not be underestimated. Using the latest communications technologies and polling techniques, as well as an array of high-level political connections, PR flacks routinely "manage" issues for government and corporate clients and "package" them for public consumption. The result is a "democracy" in which citizens are turned into passive receptacles of "disinfotainment" and "advertorials" and in which critics of the status quo are defined as ignorant meddlers and/or dangerous outsiders.'[190]
Burson-Marsteller, Edelman PR Worldwide, Shandwick International, Hill & Knowlton (UK), Weber PR Worldwide, Bell Pottinger Communications, Manning Selvage & Lee, Golin/Harris, Fleishman-Hillard and Porter Novelli are among the world's biggest PR companies.[191]
4.3.1 PR Companies used by Bayer:
Edelman PR Worldwide Edelman PR Worldwide homepage: http://www.edelman.com/
Edelman PR Worldwide profiles: http://www.odwyerpr.com/pr_firms_database/prde02.htm
http://www.channelseven.com/spotlight/pr_firms/2001_prfirms/edelman.shtml
Their clients include AT&T, American Home Products, Bayer, Deutsche Bank, Eli Lilly & Co., Ericcson, General Motors, Hewlett Packard, Hoechst Marion Roussel Inc., Hoffmann-La Roche, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Microsoft Corp., Morgan Stanley, Nike, Inc., Nissan Motor Corp., Pfizer, Pharmacia & Upjohn, Procter & Gamble, Smithkline Beecham, Starbucks, Starmedia Network, Time Warner Inc., Unilever, Visa, and Warner Lambert.[192]
Golin/Harris Founded in 1957, Golin/Harris International claims to be one of the world's leading public relations firms with offices in North America, Europe and Asia. As part of the Interpublic Group of Companies, the company's reach extends to more than 4,000 multinational, regional and local clients in 110 countries around the world. Golin/Harris is proud of the close relationships it has established with clients like Bayer, DaimlerChrysler, Gerber, McDonald's, Nintendo, Owens Corning and Texas Instruments, and claim to be 'their strategic partners in creating programs to increase awareness and trust in their reputations'.[193] Golin/Harris homepage: http://www.golinharris.com/default.asp
Manning, Selvage & Lee (MS&L) Manning, Selvage & Lee homepage: http://www.mslprdc.com/
Kekst & Co. 'From AOL-Time Warner to Seagram-Vivendi to Pharmacia & Upjohn-Monsanto, Kekst & Company continues to be a leading player in the mergers and acquisitions business. However, the greatest strength of the firm continues to reside in its ability to counsel management through "special situations" including restructurings, bankruptcies, management transitions, earnings disappointments, labor disputes and litigation'.[194]
Kekst & Co's major clients—who work with Kekst for ongoing investor relations and corporate positioning—include some of the biggest names in American business: Coca-Cola, General Motors, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Goldman Sachs, and Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts. As a matter of policy, Kekst does not publish a client list.[195]
Crisis management specialist Kekst & Company is working with German pharmaceutical giant Bayer on issues arising from the focus on its anti-anthrax drug Cipro. Bayer's role as the sole supplier of Cipro that has turned the full glare of media attention on the company, which previously had maintained a low profile in the US. "We've worked with Kekst for a number of years on different issues," Mark Ryan, senior VP of corporate communications for Bayer, told O'Dwyers PR Daily (PR News). The firm has "been excellent with strategic advice and is a terrific collaborator."[196]
Kekst has also worked with Bayer on other issues, including the company's negotiations with Holocaust survivors and their families, who claimed it was one of many German companies to exploit workers during the Nazi era, and more recently on its voluntary withdrawal of the cholesterol-lowering drug Baycol, which has been linked to more than 30 deaths.[197]
Kekst & Co. homepage: http://www.kekst.com/
Kekst & Co profile: http://www.holmesreport.com/agencies/details.cfm?agencyid=297
Fleishman-Hillard 'Fleishman-Hillard leapfrogged Burson-Marsteller, Hill & Knowlton, Weber Shandwick and Porter Novelli last year to become the world's highest-grossing PR company with a worldwide income of £240m. The company is owned by the US marketing and advertising giant, Omnicom, and clients including Yahoo!, Reebok, Bayer and ExxonMobil.'[198]
Fleishman-Hillard employees working for Bayer Rissig Licha (email: lichar@fleishman.com) joined Fleishman-Hillard after having held a high position at Burson-Marsteller for many years. He has earned a reputation as a leading authority on public relations in the emerging markets of Latin America. Within the region he has led the communications teams for such textbook projects as the Bayer aspirin/Reyes Syndrome crisis, the introduction of American Airlines in 20 markets, the DuPont Hotel fire in Puerto Rico, etc. Other clients Rissig has worked for include Coca-Cola, Philip Morris, Imperial Chemical Industries, DuPont, Enron, Texaco, Wal-Mart, and the governments of Puerto Rico, El Salvador, and Guatemala.[199]
Paul Blackburn joined Fleishman-Hillard UK in April 2000. A graduate in economics, Paul Blackburn gained a solid grounding in marketing in the pharmaceutical industry at both Merck and Abbott Laboratories during the first five and a half years of his career. Before joining Ketchum, he spent four years at the international communications agency Edelman (both major PR companies). Much of Blackburn's work has involved international brand marketing and corporate issues for clients such as Astra Zeneca, Alcon, Bayer, Johnson & Johnson, Nestlé, Novartis, Pfizer, Pharmacia & Upjohn, Procter & Gamble, Roche, SmithKline Beecham, Unilever, and Warner Lambert.[200]
Fleishman-Hillard homepage: http://www.fleishman.com/
Shandwick 'During the recent reign of England's Conservative Party, Peter Gummer's (Shandwick's founder) brother John served as a government minister. Peter Gummer himself was knighted in 1996 and is now known as Lord Chadlington. He is pragmatic, however, about his conservatism, as Shandwick counts Tony Blair's Labour Party among its clients.'[201]
Some of Shandwick's current or recent clients include: US: Aerospatiale, Bayer, Ciba-Geigy, Coca-Cola, Compaq, Dun & Bradstreet, Ford Motor Company, General Electric, General Motors, General Mills, Global Climate Information Project, IBM, Kraft, Lever Brothers, Mastercard International, Michelin, Monsanto, Microsoft, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, and Shell. Europe: Anglian Water, Corporation of London, ICI Paints, Mercedes-Benz, Nestle, P&O Cruises, Reckitt & Coleman, Shell International, Tesco, Unilever.[202]
Burson-Marsteller (B-M) The world's biggest PR company, which has a frightening influence on politics, specialises in what it calls 'perception management'. B-M has in the last couple of years been responsible for developing the PR strategy of the European biotech industry, aimed at allaying public fears about biotechnology and at manipulating political sympathies in Brussels. B-M works for industry lobby group EuropaBio.[203]
EuropaBio is made up of some 600 companies, ranging from the largest bioindustry companies in Europe (including the European offices of US companies such as Monsanto) to national biotech federations representing small and medium-sized enterprises. Member companies include all of the major European multinationals interested in biotechnology, such as Bayer, the Danône Group, Novartis, Monsanto Europe, Nestlé, Novo Nordisk, Rhône-Poulenc, Solvay and Unilever. (See also section on 'Influence / Lobbying')
A leaked Burson-Marsteller plan to sell biotech to consumers (dated 1997) can be found at: http://www.organicconsumers.org/bmplan.html
The Guardian (15 June 2001) reported that Burson Marsteller, which has done the corporate PR for Monsanto and Shell in Britain, was one of the main sponsors of Bio2001, the largest annual gathering of the world's biotech industry, held in San Diego on June 25. Bio2001 was organised by the Biotechnology Industry Organisation, which promotes GM foods. Other sponsors included the world's leading GM food manufacturers such Monsanto, Aventis, Dow AgroSciences, Astra Zeneca and also Merck and Bayer, two of the corporations who had recently tried to stop via the courts the South African government distributing cheap generic Aids drugs (The Guardian, Friday June 15, 2001).[204]
For years B-M has been involved in major environmental issues all over the world, not hesitating to give polluters a helping hand when confronted by activist groups and/or government regulations. Many transnational corporations have turned to B-M for help in the creation of a pedantic, elitist and corporate-oriented brand of environmentalism. One of B-M's most powerful and an influential 'environmental' client is the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). The WBCSD's original task was to act behind the scenes at the 1992 Earth Summit to neutralise and silence any voices critical of the irresponsible behaviour of polluting corporations. Nowadays WBCSD is advocating free markets and unfettered corporate activity as the only salvation of the environment.[205]
The WBCSD is a coalition of 150 international companies (including Bayer) 'united by a shared commitment to sustainable development via the three pillars of economic growth, ecological balance and social progress'.[206] (See also section on lobby groups) WBCSD homepage: www.wbcsd.ch/
Burson-Marsteller homepage: http://www.bm.com/
Back to top
4.3.2. PR stories involving Bayer:
Former Edelman PR senior VP joins Bayer Ellena Friedman, who was senior VP in Edelman PR Worldwide's healthcare group, joined Bayer Corp., as communications director at the firm's West Haven, Conn., North American pharmaceutical headquarters in August 2001. Friedman, who also did a stint at Hill and Knowlton, is to enhance the image of Bayer, which has more than 2,100 employees at West Haven.[207]
Bayer needs help to cover up Baycol fiasco (11 September 2001) Bayer AG said it expected to make a decision on PR counsel as the company faced a financial backlash from its decision to pull a popular cholesterol-reducing drug (Baycol) in August 2001. "We're considering our PR counsel but haven't made a definite decision yet," said Ellena Friedman, communications director for Bayer. So far, Bayer has used Edelman PR Worldwide, and Manning, Selvage & Lee.[208]
The Bayer identity campaign: The Bayer Voice Bayer has been operating for decades in the United States, but it wasn't until 1995 that US operations were finally consolidated under the global Bayer brand. Until then, Bayer in the US had been operating under various subsidiary names. As the Bayer brand unfolded throughout Bayer US operations, it became clear that the Bayer name and Bayer Cross logo was synonymous with—and limited to—the Bayer Aspirin brand. Corporate communications in the US were emanating from many sources without a single direction, identity or vision. As a result, Bayer's face to the world was fragmented and unclear.
To address this problem, in 1997 Bayer US undertook a strategic, holistic branding and positioning renewal. After completing internal and external research, Bayer US composed a positioning statement that has faithfully guided its sweeping identity campaign. The centrepiece of the campaign—both for internal and external communications—is a concept called 'The Bayer Voice'.
The strategy for launching the Bayer Voice was two-pronged. It would be circulated externally in print and television advertising, but also adopted internally for corporate communications across all business units. The external print and television advertising was placed in media likely to be seen by senior level management, customers and investors. There were four television spots and a series of print ads that ran over a six-month period starting in 1999. Three new television spots were developed and run in 2000.
The Bayer Voice was launched internally with a corporate film and collateral materials designed to create excitement and immerse the organisation with the new branding. Following, the Bayer Voice was systematically and faithfully applied to all new employee communications. Finally, in order to assist communications managers across the organisation, the Bayer Voice was codified and disseminated through an electronic, interactive style guide that helps communications managers fully understand and produce quality branded materials.
From an external perspective, corporate awareness of Bayer as a result of the Bayer Voice campaign has been steadily gaining ground. Russell Marketing Research Inc. reported that awareness in the opinion leader category rose from 10% in August of 1999 to 24% by the end of the year 2000.[209]
Bayer's $1 million consumer education campaign The Bayer Corporation launched a $1 million consumer education campaign to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it had made unsubstantiated claims in a series of aspirin ads, in violation of a previous FTC order. The Bayer ads claimed that a regular aspirin regimen is appropriate for the prevention of heart attacks and strokes in the general adult population. The FTC alleged that since some adults are less likely to benefit from a daily aspirin regime, and some may suffer adverse health effects from taking aspirin on a daily basis, the ad claims were unsubstantiated. The consumer education campaign features a brochure, "Aspirin Regimen Therapy - Is It Right For You?" that Bayer will distribute free.[210]
6 Further Links, Contacts and Resources
Groups Campaigning on Bayer
* Coalition against BAYER-Dangers (CBG formerly Bayerwatch) http://www.cbgnetwork.org Amazing German campaigning and research group focusing on Bayer. Active since the early 1980's. Campaigning for environmental protection and secure jobs at BAYER - worldwide! They have an excellent website with an archive of their Keycode Bayer newsletter available on-line * BayerHazard www.bayerhazard.com Web-based activists focusing on Bayer's involvement in GM crops. Downloadable leaflets and other agit-prop. * Pesticides Action Network (PAN) UK Homepage: http://www.pan-uk.org/
Useful Information about the Chemical Industry
* Investigative Report: 'Toxic Deception: Chemical Industry Trade and Research Associations', by Dan Fagin, Marianne Lavelle and the Center for Public Integrity, Common Courage Press, 1999. (http://www.publicintegrity.org/toxic_deception.html) Toxic Deception shows how the industry uses campaign contributions, junkets, job offers, 'scorched-earth' courtroom strategies, misleading advertising and multimillion-dollar public relations campaigns to keep their products on the market no matter how great the potential dangers. * -A list of Chemical Industry Trade and Research Associations by the Centre for Public Integrity (http://www.publicintegrity.org/toxic_tradegrps.html) Find out how the chemical industry spins, distorts, and twists the facts to suit its purposes -- and to prevent the public from finding out how dangerous their products really are, at: http://www.chemicalindustryarchives.org/ * -As a free service to the chemical industry, ChemExpo provides information on an elaborate list of trade associations. http://www.chemexpo.com/info/associations.cfm * -BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS: A RESOURCE WEBSITE, Chemical Companies. http://www.business-humanrights.org/Chemical.htm Information about lobbying efforts Pharmaceutical Industry * Report 'The Other Drugs War: Big Pharma's 625 Washington Lobbyists', July 2001, by Public Citizen, Congress Watch http://dev.citizen.org/documents/pharma.pdf * Link to up-to-date stories on Bayer by the Financial Times http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT31CBQFGQC&live=true
References
1 Bayer Financial Report 2000 2 'Corporations Behaving Badly: The Ten Worst Companies of 2001', Russel Mokhiber and Robert Weissman, Multinational Monitor, December 2001, p8-19. 3 Bayer Financial Report 2000 4 'Corporate Change' by Barbara Dinham PAN UK http://www.pan-uk.org/pestnews/pn53/pn53p12.htm 5 'Global Top 50 Chemical Companies' http://pubs.acs.org/cen/coverstory/7930/7930globaltop50table.html 6 information for this section unless further referenced in text comes from Bayer AG's own web site at http://www.bayer.com/en/unternehmen/historie/index.html , a Hoover's Online profile available at http://www.hoovers.com/premium/profile/8/0,2147,41808,00.html and from 'Global Parasites, Five Hundred Years of Western Culture' Winin Pereira and Jeremy Seabrook, 1994, Earthcare Books, p137-138. 7 'The Chemical Industry 1900-1930: International Growth and Technological Change' L.F. Haber. 1971 Clarendon Press. Oxford. p 209. Also 'Bayer:Research, Innovation, and Perseverance' available online from 'Pharmaceutical Century' http://pubs.acs.org/journals/pharmcent/company5.html 8 'Industrial Germany: A study of its Monopoly Organisations and their Control by the State', Hermann Levy, 2001, p65-66, available on line at http://www.socsci.mcmaster.ca/~econ/ugcm/3ll3/levy/Germany.pdf (page 66) 9 see www.bayer.com/en/unternehmen/arbeitsgebiete/gesundheit/index.html# for further details on Bayer's Healthcare division 10 A full list of the drugs produced by Bayer is available at www.pharma.bayer.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=Bayer/BPP/Products&pid=1007046355314&language=English 11 More details can be found at: www.bayerbiologicals.com/html/main_channels/products/therapeutic.html 12 More details can be found at www.consumercare.bayer.com/ 13 For more information see www.bayerdiag.com/ 14 For further information see www.bayer-animal-health.com/ 15 Bayer Crop Protection homepage: www.agro.bayer.com/index.cfm?PAGE_ID=271 www.bayer.com/en/unternehmen/arbeitsgebiete/landwirtschaft/index.html# (source: Bayer, date viewed: 18.01.02) 16 www.agro.bayer.com/index.cfm?PAGE_ID=723 (source: Bayer, date viewed: 18.01.02) 17 Further details on fungicides: www.agro.bayer.com/index.cfm?PAGE_ID=277 18 Further details on the following fungicides: www.agro.bayer.com/index.cfm?PAGE_ID=193 19 For further details: www.agro.bayer.com/index.cfm?PAGE_ID=278. For more information on the following herbicides: www.agro.bayer.com/index.cfm?PAGE_ID=193 20 For further details on insecticides: www.agro.bayer.com/index.cfm?PAGE_ID=281 21For more information on the following insecticides: www.agro.bayer.com/index.cfm?PAGE_ID=193 22 www.agro.bayer.com/index.cfm?PAGE_ID=115 (source: Bayer, date viewed: 18.01.02) 23 Bayer Press Release, 2.10.01. 'Bayer Acquires Aventis CropScience; EUR 7.25 Billion Acquisition' www.bayer.com/pk20011002/index_en.html 24 A full list of Aventis' products are currently available at www.cropscience.aventis.com/products/products.htm 25 www.cropscience.aventis.com/about/about.htm 'Aventis finds buyer for animal nutrition unit' by David Firn in Financial Times 15.11.01. 26 www.corpwatch.org/campaigns/PCD.jsp?articleid=621 and 'Bayer to pay E7bn for Aventis', Bettina Wassener and Juliana Ratner , Financial Times Oct 01 2001 27 Information from Genewatch online database www.genewatch.org/GeneSrch/Default.htm 28 Reuters News Service 05, 12, 01 29 'Fallout from CropScience deal' by David Firn, 02,10,01, Financial Times 30 'Bayer Announce Board of Bayer Crop Science' Bayer Press Release www.press.bayer.com/news/news.nsf/id/7F30528B3CDE9B62C1256B52005B31DB?Open&ccm=001001000&l=EN 31 04/10/01 Eastern Daily Press - page 21 32 'Bayer debuts in NY but with modest ambitions' By Adrian Michaels, Financial Times January 24 2002 http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT3BNIUSUWC 33 see www.bayer.com/en/unternehmen/arbeitsgebiete/chemie/index.html# for further details on Bayer Chemicals 34 www.bayer.com/en/unternehmen/arbeitsgebiete/chemie/index.html# (source: Bayer, date viewed: 15.01.02) 35 For further information on Bayer speciality chemicals see: www.bayersp.com/gb_spezial_e_flash.html# 36 For further details on Wolff-Cellulosics see: www.wolff-cellulosics.de/index.cfm?PAGE_ID=1034 37 For further details on Epurex Films see: www.epurex.de/index.cfm?SEITEN_ID=1118 38 For further details on Case Tech see: www.casetechwalsroder.de/index.cfm?SEITEN_ID=1172 39 For further details on Walothen see: www.walothen.de/index.cfm?PAGE_ID=1188 40 For more information on Probis see: www.wolffwalsrode.de/index.cfm?PAGE_ID=1013 41 See www.bayer.com/en/unternehmen/arbeitsgebiete/polymere/index.html for further details on Bayer Polymers 42 More details on Bayer Plastics can be found at: www.plastics.bayer.de/bayer/index_ae.jsp 43 More details on Bayer Rubber can be found at: www.bayerrubberone.com/ 44 For further details on Bayer polyurethanes : www.pu.bayer.com/pu 45 www.bayer.com/en/unternehmen/arbeitsgebiete/polymere/index.html# (source: Bayer, date viewed: 18.01.02) 46 For further details on Bayer Coatings and Colorants go to: www.bayer-ls.com/LS/LSWebCMS.NSF/all/Homepage_EN 47 www.bayer-ls.com/ls/lswebcms.nsf/id/EE64BDCE4DA50B7DC12569510057BF62 (source: Bayer, date viewed: 18.01.02) 48 www.bayer.com/en/unternehmen/arbeitsgebiete/polymere/index.html#fibers (source: Bayer, date viewed: 18.01.02) 49 http://www.bayer.com/en/unternehmen/standorte/index.html (source: Bayer, date viewed: 05.01.02) 50 http://www.bayer.co.uk/news/supervisory_1201.html (source: Bayer, date viewed: 05.01.02) 51 http://news.ft.com/news/industries/basic (source: Financial Times, article published on 6 December 2001, date viewed: 04.01.02) 52 http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT393YS08WC&live=true (source: BBC News, 'Bayer dealt blow as pharma chief Ebsworth quits', by Adrian Michaels in New York and David Firn in London, published: 8 January 2002) 53 Ibidem 54 http://www.press.bayer.com/News/news.nsf/ID/NT0000E1EA (source: Bayer press release, 6 December 2001, date viewed: 15.01.02) 92 Bayer Annual Report 2000, 'Shaping the Future', Leverkusen, March 2001, page 40-41 93 http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/congo/2001/0319colt.htm (source: the Global Policy Forum, date viewed: 08.01.02) Article published in the Washington Post, 19 March 2001 94 Bayer Annual Report 2000, 'Shaping the Future', Leverkusen, March 2001, page 43 95 http://www.press.bayer.com/News/news.nsf/ID/NT000056E6 (source: Bayer, press release, date viewed: 16.01.02) 96 http://www.bayer.co.uk/about/WHawley.html (source: Bayer, date viewed: 04.01.02) 97 http://www.bayer.co.uk/about/dystar.html (source: Bayer, date viewed: 04.01.02) 98 http://www.bayer.co.uk/about/pbi.html (source: Bayer, date viewed: 20.01.02) 99 http://www.bio.uk.co/AboutUs.html (source: pbi, date viewed: 19.01.02) 100 http://www.forbes.com/newswire/2001/10/02/rtr375929.html (source: Forbes.com, date viewed: 23.12.01) 101 http://www.cbgnetwork.com/home/Newsletter_KCB/KCB__51/kcb__51.html (source: Coalition Against BAYER-Dangers, date viewed: 15.01.02) 102 http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=105&STORY=/www/story/10-02-2001/0001583226 (source: PRNewswire, date viewed: 21.01.02) 103 http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT3QEE3K5VC&live=true ('Bayer to gain €6bn in finance deal', by David Firn and Rebecca Bream in London, published: 12 December 2001) 104 'Bayer dealt blow as pharma chief Ebsworth quits', by Adrian Michaels in New York and David Firn in London, published: 8 January 2002 (date viewed on BBC News Site: 09.01.02) 105 http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT345AGJ2UC&live=true&useoverridetemplate=ZZZFKOXOA0C&tagid=IXLHT5GTICC&subheading=healthcare ('Bayer and GSK sign US marketing deal', by FT.com staff, published: 15 November 2001) 106 http://www.ppl-therapeutics.com/Welcome/welcome.html (source: PPL Therapeutics, date viewed: 18.01.02) 107 http://www.ppl-therapeutics.com/Welcome/welcome.html (source: PPL Therapeutics, date viewed: 18.01.02) 108 http://www.ppl-therapeutics.com/Welcome/Profile/History/history.html (source: PPL Therapeutics, date viewed: 18.01.02) 109 http://www.ppl-therapeutics.com/Welcome/Products/Product1/product1.html (source: PPL Therapeutics, date viewed: 18.01.02) 110 http://www.ppl-therapeutics.com/Welcome/Profile/Dolly/dolly.html (source: PPL Therapeutics, date viewed: 18.01.02) 111 http://www.newscientist.com/hottopics/cloning/cloning.jsp?id=ns99991745 (Source: The New Scientist, date viewed: 19.01.02) 112 http://www.hoovers.com/co/capsule/0/0,2163,51240,00.html (source: hoover's online, date viewed: 05.01.02) 113 Bayer Annual Report 2000, 'Shaping the Future', Leverkusen, March 2001, page 7 114 http://www.hoovers.com/co/capsule/6/0,2163,61276,00.html (source: hoover's online, date viewed: 05.01.02) 115 http://www.forbes.com/finance/mktguideapps/compinfo/CompanyTearsheet.jhtml?tkr=LEON (source: Forbes.com, date viewed: 05.01.02) 116 http://pharmalicensing.com/company/dispcompany/2816"> http://pharmalicensing.com/company/dispcompany/2816 (source: Pharmalicensing, date viewed: 16.01.02) 117 http://www.bio.org/memberprofile/incyte.html (source: Biotechnology Industry Organization, date viewed: 07.01.02) 118 Bayer Annual Report 2000, 'Shaping the Future', Leverkusen, March 2001, page 55 119 http://www.hoovers.com/co/capsule/7/0,2163,51177,00.html (source: hoover's online, date viewed: 07.01.02) 120 http://www.hoovers.com/co/capsule/0/0,2163,99950,00.html (source: hoover's online, date viewed: 07.01.02) 121 http://www.forbes.com/finance/mktguideapps/compinfo/CompanyTearsheet.jhtml?tkr=LEON (source: Forbes.com, date viewed: 05.01.02) 122www.press.bayer.com/News/news.nsf/ID/NT0000557A"> www.press.bayer.com/News/news.nsf/ID/NT0000557A (source: Bayer, press release, date viewed: 16.01.02) 123 http://www.press.bayer.com/News/news.nsf/ID/NT0000557A (source: Bayer, press release, date viewed: 16.01.02) 124 http://www.hoovers.com/co/capsule/3/0,2163,99943,00.html (source: hoover's online, date viewed: 07.01.02) 125 http://www.press.bayer.com/news/news.nsf/ID/NT0000E216 (source: Bayer press release, 13 December 2001) 126 http://www.chempark.bayer.com/index_en_flash.html (source: Bayer, date viewed: 16.01.02) 127 http://www.chempark.bayer.com/en/chemicalpark/partnership/index.html (source: Bayer, date viewed: 16.01.02) 128 http://www.news.bayer.com/News/news.nsf/ID/NT0000E0CE (source: Bayer press release, 18 October 2001, date viewed: 16.01.02) 129 http://pittsburgh.bcentral.com/pittsburgh/stories/2001/05/07/story3.html (source: Pittsburgh Business Times, date viewed: 21.01.02) 130 http://www.bayerus.com/new/1998/6.3.98.html (source: Pittsburgh News, Bayer press release, date viewed: 21.01.02) 131 Bayer Annual Report 2000, 'Shaping the Future', Leverkusen, March 2001, page 13 132 http://www.xs4all.nl/~ceo/icc/icc_intro.html (source: Corporate Europe Observatory, date viewed: 20.12.01) 133 http://www.xs4all.nl/~ceo/un/icc.html (source: Corporate Europe Observatory, date viewed: 20.12.01) 134 http://www.xs4all.nl/~ceo/tabd/troubled.html (source: Corporate Europe Observatory, date viewed: 20.12.01) 135 http://www.foei.org/activist_guide/tradeweb/tep.htm (source: Friends of the Earth International, date viewed: 18.12.01) 136 http://www.spotlight.org/Bilderberg_Page/bilderberg_page.html (source: The Spotlight, Washington DC, date viewed: 20.01.02) 137 http://www.xs4all.nl/~ceo/untnc/intro.html (source: Corporate Europe Observatory, date viewed: 20.12.01) 138 http://www.corpwatch.org/campaigns/PCD.jsp?articleid=993 (source: CorpWatch USA, date viewed: 15.01.02) 139 http://www.corpwatch.org/news/PND.jsp?articleid=72 (source: CorpWatch USA, date viewed: 15.01.02) 140 http://www.sumeria.net/health/hpb-codex.html (source: The Life Extension Foundation, date viewed: 25/11/01) 141 ibidem 142 http://www.icca-chem.org/issues.htm (source: ICCA, date viewed: 18.12.01) 143 http://www.cefic.be/icca/icca.htm (source: CEFIC, date viewed: 18.12.01) 144 http://www.cefic.be/icca/icca.htm (source: CEFIC, date viewed: 18.12.01) 145 http://www.icem.org/update/upd2001/upd01-91.html (source: ICEM, date viewed: 23.12.01) 146 http://www.imo.org/HOME.html (source: IMO, date viewed: 18.12.01) 147 http://www.imo.org/HOME.html (source: IMO, date viewed: 18.12.01) 148 http://www.worldwildlife.org/toxics/whatsnew/pr_25.htm (source: WWF, date viewed: 18.12.01) 149 http://www.iso.ch/iso/en/aboutiso/introduction/whatisISO.html (source: ISO, date 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