[Vision2020] Bayer Aspirin

[Rosemary Huskey]

[Short version of this email]

Please do not buy medications or over the counter products from Bayer A.G.
(a German based corporation) or its U.S. based subsidiaries purchased “In
1978, Bayer purchased Miles Laboratories
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_Laboratories>  and its subsidiaries
Miles Canada
<http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Miles_Canada&action=edit&redlink=
1>  and Cutter Laboratories
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutter_Laboratories>  (along with a product
line including Alka-Seltzer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alka-Seltzer> ,
Flintstones vitamins
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flintstones_chewable_vitamins>  and One-A-Day
vitamins, and Cutter insect repellent
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insect_repellent> ).  In 1994, Bayer AG
purchased Sterling WinthropI's over-the-counter
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Over-the-counter_drug>  drug business from
SmithKline Beecham <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SmithKline_Beecham>  and
merged it with Miles Laboratories, thereby reacquiring the U.S. and Canadian
trademark rights to "Bayer" and the Bayer cross, as well as the ownership of
the Aspirin trademark in Canada.”  Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayer

[The longer version with background and citations that explains the reason
for my request follows below.]

 

Last night I watched a PBS show on the commercial development and marketing
of aspirin around the end turn of the 19th century. The work was initiated
and directed by a brilliant Jewish chemist, Dr. Arthur Eichengrün , in
Germany.  At the time the company was known as Bayer – the surname of one of
the original owners. Thanks to  recent research this by Dr Walter Sneader of
Strathclyde University
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1119266/>  the previous
anti-Semitic error of attributing this “invention” to a man named Hoffman
has been corrected.   

 

Dr. Eichengrün left the company in 1908 to pursue an independent career.  In
the years prior to World War II  Dr. Eichengrün was recognized as a
brilliant and inventive fellow who (theoretically) enjoyed the respect of
business and intellectual German communities.

 

Post WWI Bayer Company changed its name to I.G. Farben.  Does the name sound
familiar?  I hope it does.  Following WWII the significant managers of I.G.
Farben were charged with war crimes
<http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/sociopol_igfarben08.htm>
(see below). All things considered, they got off with wrist slaps.  The
corporation was ordered to pay reparations to the surviving members of the
thousands of I.G. Farben slave laborers forced to work under the usual
heinous conditions employed by Nazi collaborators.   After their
all-too-brief prison sentences the following jackasses bounced right on back
to their old positions of power and authority.  Please click on the names of
the men below.   Yes, it will take a small amount of your time to read about
these unrepentant monsters, but you have the luxury of being able to educate
yourself – a gift denied millions of others (including American service men
and women in the European theatre) who died because of them and their
company’s products.

 

For example:

 

Hermann Schmitz
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Schmitz_%28industrialist%29> ,  became
a member of the supervisory board for the Deutsche Bank
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Bank>  in Berlin and honorary
chairman of the supervisory board of Rheinische Stahlwerke AG [19]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IG_Farben#cite_note-19> 

Georg von Schnitzler <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_von_Schnitzler> ,
served as president of the Deutsch-Ibero-Amerikanische Gesellschaft [20]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IG_Farben#cite_note-20> supervisory board
member of several firms [21]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IG_Farben#cite_note-21> 

Otto Ambros <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Ambros> , held seats on
supervisory boards Chemie Grünenthal
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemie_Gr%C3%BCnenthal>  (being active during
the Contergan scandal), Feldmühle, and Telefunken, and worked as an economic
consultant in Mannheim <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mannheim>  [22]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IG_Farben#cite_note-22> 

Heinrich Bütefisch <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_B%C3%BCtefisch> ,
became a member of the supervisory boards for Deutsche Gasolin AG,
Feldmühle, and Papier- und Zellstoffwerke AG, and consultied with Ruhrchemie
AG Oberhausen and subsequently joining its supervisory board.[23]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IG_Farben#cite_note-23> 

Max Ilgner <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Ilgner> , became the chairman
of the executive board of a chemistry firm in Zug
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zug>  [24]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IG_Farben#cite_note-24> 

Heinrich Oster <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Oster> , became a
member of the supervisory board of Gelsenberg AG.[25]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IG_Farben#cite_note-25> 

Some of the people who were acquitted
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acquitted>  (what a miscarriage of justice)
and later became leaders in post war-companies include:

Fritz Gajewski <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Gajewski> , became
chairman of the board of Dynamit Nobel
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamit_Nobel> .[26]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IG_Farben#cite_note-26> 

Christian Schneider (chemist)
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Schneider_%28chemist%29> , became a
member of the supervisory boards of Süddeutsche Kalkstickstoff-Werke AG
Trostberg and Rheinauer Holzhydrolyse-GmbH, Mannheim [27]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IG_Farben#cite_note-27> 

Hans Kühne <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_K%C3%BChne> , held a position
at Bayer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayer>  Elberfeld
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elberfeld> .[28]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IG_Farben#cite_note-28> 

Carl Lautenschläger <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Lautenschl%C3%A4ger>
, became a research associate at Bayer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayer>
Elberfeld <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elberfeld> .[29]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IG_Farben#cite_note-29> 

Wilhelm Rudolf Mann <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Rudolf_Mann> ,
resumed his position as head of pharmaceutical sales at Bayer
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayer> . He also presided over the GfK,
Society for Consumer Research, and the Foreign Trade Committee of the BDI,
Federation of German Industry.[30]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IG_Farben#cite_note-30> 

Carl Wurster <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Wurster> , resumed his
position of chairman of the managing board, and was the major force behind
the reestablishment of BASF <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BASF> . After
retiring, he continued to be active as a member and chairman of supervisory
boards in companies such as Bosch
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bosch_GmbH> , Degussa (later being
acquired by RAG <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAG_Aktiengesellschaft>  [31]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IG_Farben#cite_note-31> ), and Allianz
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allianz> .[32]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IG_Farben#cite_note-32> 

Heinrich Gattineau <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Gattineau> , beame
a member of the board and supervisory council of WASAG Chemie-AG, and
Mitteldeutsche Sprengstoff-Werke GmbH [33]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IG_Farben#cite_note-33> 

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IG_Farben

 

I.G. Farben was reorganized as an empty holding company in order to avoid
paying the ordered reparations to the slave labor survivors used by their
company. The litigation, which lasted over sixty years effectively allowed
the corporation to dodge essentially all payments. I.G. Farben reverted to
its pre World War I name, Bayer A.G, and has continued to thrive worldwide.


 

Which brings me to the reason for this email (and arguably, more post WWII
business history than you ever want to know).  

“In 1978, Bayer purchased Miles Laboratories
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_Laboratories>  and its subsidiaries
Miles Canada
<http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Miles_Canada&action=edit&redlink=
1>  and Cutter Laboratories
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutter_Laboratories>  (along with a product
line including Alka-Seltzer <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alka-Seltzer> ,
Flintstones vitamins
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flintstones_chewable_vitamins>  and One-A-Day
vitamins, and Cutter insect repellent
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insect_repellent> ).  In 1994, Bayer AG
purchased Sterling WinthropI's over-the-counter
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Over-the-counter_drug>  drug business from
SmithKline Beecham <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SmithKline_Beecham>  and
merged it with Miles Laboratories, thereby reacquiring the U.S. and Canadian
trademark rights to "Bayer" and the Bayer cross, as well as the ownership of
the Aspirin trademark in Canada.”

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayer .  This source also includes
recent law suits against Bayer A.G. and its subsidiaries  - demonstrating
that I.G. Farben philosophy (in all but name) is  alive and well in 2014.


If I.G. Farben corporate officers had not been reinstated or had not easily
found other prominent corporate positions in Germany after World War II, if
the company (or the men) had accepted responsibility for their monstrous
behavior and allegiance to the Nazi party and insisted that their
corporation(s) pay reparations we might accept that they felt some kind of
guilt and responsibility for the Holocaust.  They didn’t – and as recently
as 2003 Farben I.G. dba Bayer A.G. were still tying up unpaid reparations
in senseless litigation.  However, they were and remained unapologetic Nazi
collaborators that enriched themselves before, during, and after WWII.  

There is nothing we can do about the deaths of millions of people seventy +
years ago.  There is something we can do now.  The lack of contrition of
this corporation deserves a response even at this late date.

I urge you not to buy or use products from Bayer A.G. or the subsidiaries
listed above.  It is a small, indeed insignificant, stand when considered
against the global reach of the corporation.  But it is a matter of
conscience that we can easily adopt.  And, we can encourage others in our
various circles of friends, family, and co-workers  to stand with us in
opposition against this wretched corporation.

Rose Huskey

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20140616/eb908ee0/attachment-0001.html>