PANNA: Bayer Corporate Fact Sheet

Overview
Bayer produces some of the world’s most toxic pesticides. When it acquires Aventis Crop Science, it will become the second largest agrochemical company in the world. Bayer and Aventis—and the companies they have purchased or merged with in the past—have contributed to the poisoning of Peruvian children, a chemical explosion in Madagascar, and the genetically engineered StarLink corn disaster. These are only a few of the company’s higher profile disasters; many more go unreported because victims are poor villagers or farmworkers with little voice. Bayer’s record clearly disqualifies the company from meeting the World Bank’s guidelines for private sector partnerships.¹

Harming health and the environment
Chemical explosions
An explosion at an AgrEvo (see Company Profile) pesticide plant in Griesheim, Germany contaminated at least 50 hectares of a residential district with hazardous levels of herbicide. Almost two hours passed before AgrEvo warned residents of the leak and told them to remain indoors with windows shut.²

In November 1997, an explosion at a Hoechst (see Company Profile) pesticide factory in a densely populated area of Madagascar caused widespread pollution. Hoechst had insufficient water on site to deal with a fire, and would not supply a list of substances involved in the accident, despite demands from local officials. Over 50 pesticides were involved in the explosion, including 2,4-D and endosulfan.³

Pesticide dumping
Aventis is one of four companies paying US$73 million in cleanup costs for DDT the company dumped into the ocean off the Palos Verdes Peninsula in southern California. Local fish remain hazardous to eat. Aventis and the other companies insist that the DDT is disintegrating naturally and does not require cleanup.⁴

Producing the most toxic pesticides
Aventis produces one of the world’s worst pesticides:
• Aldicarb makes PAN’s Dirty Dozen List—Aldicarb is one of the most toxic pesticides registered for use in the United States. The World Health Organization classifies aldicarb as extremely hazardous.⁵

Bayer also makes highly hazardous pesticides:
• Methamidophos residues poison people—According to U.S. EPA, this insecticide is acutely toxic with a high toxicity in aquatic environments. Methamidophos has caused hundreds of agricultural produce-related poisonings worldwide and has been banned in many countries.⁶

• Fenthion kills birds—Fenthion is a moderately acute toxin and highly toxic in aquatic environments, according to the EPA. It is used as an insect and bird toxin and functions as a cholinesterase inhibitor. Agricultural exposure to fenthion has been linked to myopia and other eye defects.⁷ Fenthion has also been linked to mass deaths of non-target wild birds.⁸

Superfund sites
Government designated “Superfund” sites are uncontrolled or abandoned sites in the United States where hazardous waste is located. Bayer and Aventis subsidiaries are responsible for at least 24 Superfund sites.⁹

Biosafety breaches
• The StarLink disaster—Aventis’ StarLink corn was genetically engineered to produce a toxin that kills certain corn pests. The corn, however, was approved in the U.S. only for animal feed due to concerns of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that it could cause allergic reactions in humans. It was approved with the condition that farmers and food processors would keep StarLink separate from other types of corn.

In 2000, Genetically Engineered Food Alert, a coalition of U.S. environmental and consumer groups, discovered that, due in large part to Aventis’ disregard for requirements imposed by EPA, StarLink corn had made its way into products on supermarket shelves. Over time, more than 300 products were recalled by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and more than 40 people reported having allergic reactions. StarLink was found to have contaminated large quantities of the corn harvest through cross pollination and mixing at grain silos.

• GE crops on the loose—Genetically engineered Aventis canola from an Australian test site was found dumped in a local landfill. Aventis was also subjected to an audit in Australia because they failed to maintain the required 15 meter buffer zones around test plots.¹⁰ In 1998, a UK regulatory committee criticized Aventis for failing to implement sufficient measures to limit the escape of pollen from a test site for genetically engineered wheat.¹¹
March 2002

Notes
1 Partnerships with the Private Sector: Assessment and Approval, Business Partnership & Outreach Group, The World Bank Group, Washington, DC. http://www.worldbank.org/business/03assessment.html#guidance.
2 “Aventis,” Corporate Watch GE Briefing Series, April 2000. http://www.gm-info.org.uk/gm-info/briefings/aventis3. html.
3 “Fire at Hoechst storage depot in Madagascar,” Pesticides News No. 38, December 1997, PAN UK. “Chemical Explosions: Madagascar and Alabama,” PANUPS, December 23, 1997.“Aventis,” Corporate Watch GE Briefing Series, April 2000, http://www.gm-info.org.uk/gm-info/briefings/aventis3.html.
4 “DDT Manufacturers Pay $73 Million for Clean Up,” Global Pesticide Campaigner., April 2001. Los Angeles Times, December 20, 2000.
5 PAN International, Dirty Dozen Pesticide Fact Sheets, 1990.
6 “Sri Lanka Bans Two Toxic Pesticides,” PANUPS, May 19, 1995.
7 “Eye Defects Linked to Organophosphate Exposure.” Current Research Monitor No. 24, April 1994. The Pesticides Trust.
8 “U.S. Government Sued For Bird Deaths,” PANUPS, February 1, 2002.
9 http://www.scorecard.org, http://www.ntis.gov/search.htm, http://www.epa.gov/enviro/html/cerclis/cerclis_query.html)
10 “Report on Audit of Aventis CropScience Pty. Ltd.: Conduct of Field Trials in Accordance with GMAC Regulations,” www.health.gov.au/ogtr/publications/pdf/audaventis.pdf; “Genetically Manipulated Optimism: Fast Track for GMOs,” Australian Conservation Foundation GeneEthics Network, http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/2000/Oct00/Phelps.htm.
11 Corporate Watch, op. cit.