Monsanto’s German Suitor
Has Its Own Tainted Record
By
Phil Mattera in Dirt
Diggers Digest
Monsanto, one of the most controversial corporations in the
United States, now finds itself the target of a takeover campaign by German
pharmaceutical and chemical giant Bayer. Would a change in ownership improve
the behavior of the biotechnology company dubbed “Mutanto” by its critics?
Answering that question requires a look at Bayer’s own track
record, which is far from unblemished.
Most Americans associate Bayer with
aspirin. The company created the analgesic in 1899, but during World War I the
U.S. government seized Bayer’s American assets and allowed other firms to sell
aspirin under the Bayer name until the German company bought back the rights in
1994.
In the 1920s Bayer was absorbed into the massive IG Farben
cartel, which used slave labor and supported the Nazi regime.
After the Second World War it re-emerged as one of the companies
created through the break-up of IG Farben. During the 1950s it began to return
to the U.S. market through efforts such as a joint venture with Monsanto (in
its pre-agribusiness era) called Mobay Chemical.
As Bayer has stepped up its U.S. involvement over the past two
decades it has gotten embroiled in one scandal after another.
In 1997 one of its subsidiaries based in New Jersey pled guilty to criminal price-fixing and had to pay a $50 million fine.
In 2000 Bayer had to pay $14
million to the federal government and the states to settle allegations that it
inflated prices on drugs sold to the Medicaid program.
In 2001 it was accused of
price-gouging on the antibiotic Cipro, which was then in high demand because of
the anthrax scare. It later had to pay $257
million to settle a federal lawsuit on Cipro overcharging.
In 2003 documents emerged suggesting
that Bayer was aware of serious safety problems with its cholesterol drug
Baycol long before the medication was withdrawn from the market.
In 2004 Bayer had to pay a
$66 million fine in another criminal price-fixing case.
A 2008 explosion at a Bayer pesticide plant in West Virginia
that killed two workers led to regulatory penalties including a $5.6
million settlement with the EPA. A report found that
management deficiencies played a significant role in creating the conditions
that caused the explosion.
That’s just the quick version of Bayer’s controversies. For more
see the website of
the Coalition against BAYER-dangers, a German watchdog group that has been
monitoring the company for more than 30 years.
Perhaps most troubling is the fact that Bayer has already been
active in the businesses in which Monsanto has gained its checkered reputation:
agricultural chemicals and genetically modified seeds.
Before the Monsanto bid,
Bayer was in the news most often because of concerns that
its pesticides were responsible for sharp drops in bee populations.
The chances that a Bayer takeover of Monsanto will get the U.S.
company to clean up its act seem slim indeed. In fact, the combined company
will probably be an even bigger threat.