Bayer
Profile
Bayer is a chemical and pharmaceutical company that was founded in 1863. Recently it expanded into agricultural products via the acquisition of Monsanto. One of the first controversial products made by Bayer was heroin (named and trademarked in 1898). Monsanto's list of controversial products include Agent Orange, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), genetically-modified crop seeds, and Roundup (the trade name of a toxic glyphosate-based weedkiller. It is in the process of paying out billions of dollars to convince some 100,000 people to drop lawsuits over Roundup use.
pharmaceuticals, veterinary drugs, diagnostic imaging, general and specialty medicines, women's health products, over-the-counter drugs, pesticides, seeds, plant biotechnology. (Former products: diabetes care)
Violations
Top 5 Offense Groups (Groups Defined) | Penalty Total | Number of Records |
---|---|---|
government-contracting-related offenses | $365,800,000 | 7 |
environment-related offenses | $178,832,413 | 59 |
competition-related offenses | $105,700,000 | 7 |
financial offenses | $80,000,000 | 1 |
safety-related offenses | $48,992,979 | 50 |
(April 6, 2021)
Stories
Activism
Activists back French-Vietnamese woman's Agent Orange case
The Associated Press | January 30, 2021
Activists have gathered in Paris to support people exposed to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War, after a French court examined the case of a French-Vietnamese woman who sued 14 companies that produced and sold the powerful defoliant.
Bayer shareholder meeting draws protests, pleas from cancer patients
Cary Gillam | USRTK | May 1st, 2020
The Bayer AG annual shareholders’ meeting got underway Tuesday in Germany, drawing the attention of not only investors and analysts but also activists, lawyers and cancer patients who want to see Bayer make amends for alleged misdeeds by Monsanto, which Bayer bought two years ago.
Activists protest outside French Monsanto factory ahead of G7
euro news | July 23, 2019
French activists brought in dirt, hay and plants to create a makeshift vegetable patch as they protested in front of a Monsanto factory on the eve of the Biarritz G7 summit.
Thousands gather in France, worldwide for annual march against Monsanto
Aude Mazoue | France 24 | May 19, 2019
Since 2013, environmental activists and other protesters have organised the annual March Against Monsanto in cities in France and across the world, demanding an agriculture free of pesticides and toxic agrochemicals.
Activists have spray-painted the headquarters of Bayer AG to protest its production of pesticides.
Manufacturing Business Technology | March 14, 2019
French activists have spray-painted the Paris headquarters of Bayer AG and plastered it with signs to protest its production of environment-damaging pesticides.
Bayer pharma workers protest 12,000 worldwide job losses
Deutsche Welle | March 12, 2018
Despite a pledge not to have lay-offs until 2025, a "significant number" of the job cuts at Bayer will be in Germany. More than 1,000 employees in the western city of Wuppertal came out to protest a plant closure.
Thousands protest against seed giant Monsanto ahead of Bayer merger
Slata Rodionova | The Independent | May 23, 2016
Furious environmentalists have taken to streets around the world to protest against seed giant Monsanto at the same time as the company is facing a $62 billion takeover by Bayer, the German drugs giant.
& Lawsuits
Bayer Settles More Roundup Suits
Jamie Dickerman | News Dakota | April 13, 2022
Bayer has reached another settlement to resolve a collection of claims that its weedkiller Roundup caused cancer, thus avoiding a trial that was set to start next week in St. Louis.
Revealed: Monsanto owner and US officials pressured Mexico to drop glyphosate ban
Carey Gillam | The Guardian | February 16, 2021
Internal government emails reveal Monsanto owner Bayer AG and industry lobbyist CropLife America have been working closely with US officials to pressure Mexico into abandoning its intended ban on glyphosate, a pesticide linked to cancer that is the key ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup weedkillers.
Essure: Women in England take legal action against sterilising-device maker
Sophie Hutchinson | BBC News | November 15, 2020
Lawyers have begun legal action on behalf of 200 UK women against the makers of a sterilisation device, after claims of illness and pain.
Under Fire From Judge, Bayer Settles Thousands More Roundup Lawsuits
Amanda Bronstad | Law.com | September 17, 2020
In a filing Thursday, Bayer's lawyers said they had settled thousands of lawsuits over Monsanto’s Roundup after a federal judge raised questions about a $10.9 billion deal that failed to resolve all the litigation.
Bayer Agrees to Pay $39.5 Million in Class Action Lawsuit Over Misleading Roundup Claims
Faith Anderson | Consumer Justice Foundation | April 1, 2020
Bayer AG has agreed to pay $39.5 million to resolve allegations that its Monsanto subsidiary made false and misleading claims in advertisements about Roundup and the potential health risks the controversial weed killer may pose for humans and animals.
Revealed: The pesticide giants making billions on toxic and bee-harming chemicals
Crispin Dowler | Unearthed | February 20, 2020
The world’s five biggest pesticide manufacturers are making more than a third of their income from leading products selling chemicals that pose serious hazards to human health and the environment, a joint investigation by Unearthed and Public Eye has found.
Bayer apologizes over secret list of Monsanto critics
Deutsche Welle | December 5, 2019
The German chemicals giant has promised a probe into allegations it created a list of 200 French journalists and lawmakers who were critical of its US subsidiary. France wants to know if the data was collected illegally.
California jury hits Bayer with $2 billion award in Roundup cancer trial
Tina Bellon | Reuters | May 13, 2019
A California jury on Monday awarded more than $2 billion to a couple who claimed Bayer AG’s glyphosate-based Roundup weed killer caused their cancer, in the largest U.S. jury verdict to date against the company in litigation over the chemical.
Bloomberg: Bayer to pay $110 million to get out from under 500 Yaz lawsuits
Eric Palmer | Bloomberg | April 13, 2012
Three months of negotiations have apparently resulted in Bayer ($BAYN) deciding that claims against its Yasmin line of birth control are worth about $220,000 each.
Bayer Admits It Paid "Millions" in HIV Infection Cases -- Just Not in English
Jim Edwards | CBS News | June 6, 2011
To read the English-speaking media, you'd never know that Bayer just paid "tens of millions" of dollars to end a three-decade long scandal in which the company sold HIV-contaminated blood products to haemophiliacs, thousands of whom later died of AIDS.
Bayer CropScience to pay more than $1 million to settle federal charges
George Hohmann | Times West Virginian | September 15, 2008
Bayer CropScience has agreed to pay more than $1 million to settle federal charges that the Institute site's previous owner, Aventis CropScience, from 1999 to 2001 kept shoddy records, exceeded its discharge permit limits for numerous hazardous chemicals and failed to properly notify authorities of discharge excesses.
Yes, Bayer Promoted Heroin for Children -- Here Are The Ads That Prove It
Jim Edwards | Business Insider | November 17, 2011
It's not news that Bayer, the venerable German drug company, made its first fortunes in the late 1890s when it commercialized both aspirin and heroin as cough, cold and pain remedies.
& Relations
You should know that, among others, Bayer bought prisoners in WWII in order to experiment on them
Mihay Andrai | ZME Science | March 19, 2019
You’ve heard about Bayer, right? They’re one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world, most famous for inventing aspirin.
Bayer Stored Bhopal Disaster Chemical in Faulty Tanks
Jim Edwards | CBS News | January 12, 2010
Bayer (BAY.DE) is storing 90 tonnes of methyl isocyanate -- the chemical that killed thousands in the 1984 Union carbide disaster at Bhopal -- in a storage tank in Institute, W.V., that has failed safety inspections.
Financials
Note: Most recent list is not always the most complete list.
Croctail Subsidiary Tool using the CorpWatch API - This API uses automated parsers to extract the subsidiary relationship information from Exhibit 21 of companies' 10-K filings with the SEC.
Click here for the latest list.
Political Influence
OpenSecrets.org Profile of Bayer AG
& Evasion
Harmful tax competition - How Bayer rigs corporate taxation in Europe
Christoph Trautvetter & Steffen Redeker | GREENS/EFA GROUP | February 26, 2021
A growing number of case studies, court cases as well as the emerging analysis of country-by-country
reports show: multinational corporations across many industries and countries use accounting tricks to
shift their profits to corporate tax havens.
BAYER appearing poor to tax authorities - Appropriate Taxes for Multinationals!
Coalition Against Bayer Dangers | January 29, 2015
The chemical and pharmaceutical company BAYER has systematically moved profits to low-tax countries. The corporation thereby reduces its tax burden at the expense of taxpayers in Germany, the United States or France.
Procurement
Bayer Contracts with the U.S. Government (via USA SPENDING).