thanks for your mail. We are still interested in participating in the Boycott and are grateful when you pass along news by our group to American people. Unfortunately I can't look on your homepage, we don't have the facilities yet. We will mention the information we have so far in our newspaper STICHWORT BAYER (four times a year, 32 pages, 2500 copies).

Any news in english we will send to you regularly in our newsletter Keycode Bayer. I'm now adding some articles of the next edition.

I'm looking forward to hear from you soon, Philipp Mimkes

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

***********************************************************

KEYCODE BAYER #4

contains excerpts from the German magazine ,Stichwort BAYER, pu- blished by the international network COORDINATION AGAINST BAYER-DANGERS (since 1983). KEYCODE BAYER is published four times a year. If you send us a message, you will receive our newsletter regularly by Email.

The COORDINATION unites the victims of the multinational BAYER- trust and all those who are interested in BAYER-critical activities. We are fighting for environmental protection and job security at BAYER all over the world. All articles of KEYCODE BAYER are short versions. In addition long versions of all news items can be obtained. The subscription fee of the printed version is 24$ per year. A reprint of this newsletter or certain parts of it is allowed and desired! We would welcome a broad distributi- on. We don´t receive any official support so we need all kind of help. We of- fer photos and all kind of information about the BAYER trust; we also collect all information about BAYER. So anyone who knows something noteworthy - please let us know! Anyone who needs photos or informati- on concerning the BAYER trust is invited to contact us: CBG, Postfach 15 04 18, 40081 Düsseldorf, Germany. E-mail: Co_gegen_BAYER@NADESHDA.gun.de Fax: +49 211 333 940 ***********************************************************

High drug prices in developing countries

Health Action International, a Malaysia-based network of non- governmental organisations working for more rational and fairer health, made a survey of retail prices of commonly used drugs in 29 developing and developed countries. One of the examined products: ADALAT by BAYER. The startling result: consumers in developing countries, with low purchasing power are forced to pay higher prices for some commonly used drugs compared to what consumers in developed countries pay for the same drugs. The guiding principle the drug industry seems to adopt in fixing prices is to set the limit according to the levels which the market can bear. Profit maximization is the industry´s only objective. Whereas in countries like India, which monitor and control drug prices, prices are as much as fifty times less! And the companies still make their profits! So market forces can never be the answer to fair and reasonable prices. The prices for 100 tablets of BAYER´s Adalat: Germany: 18 $ Philippines: 40 $ India: 2 $ Malaysia: 25 $ UK: 11$ Thailand: 26$

BAYER in Brazil and Germany: double standards

In its article "In the Land of the Sugar Loaf Mountain" the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) published a song of praise to the German mul- tinationals, who allegedly, are just as environmentconscious in Brazil as they are in Germany. The FAZ obviously relied solely on PR department press releases of the companies involved.

It is not fiction but fact that last year a state enquiry was ordered into the highly praised Bayer factory in Belford Roxo, near Rio de Janeiro, becau- se several accidents, incidents, and complaints by residents and the trade union could no longer be swept under the carpet. "The testimony and re- ports make evident that the company: continuously violated basic regula- tions on industrial health and safety; refused to recognize occupational diseases and industrial accidents, used the highest limits, and enforced working hours above the legal maximum; contracted specialized and ha- zardous work to third parties; and restricted inspection and monitoring by authorized commissions." (Extract from the decree of the district attorney at the Rio de Janeiro labour court, 3 June 1994).

In 1993 environmental organizations awarded Bayer fourth place among the "dirty half dozen" in the federal state of Rio de Janeiro and handed over a dossier to the German Consulate outlining a multitude of concrete accusations and complaints about "double standards". All ideology? Or is it true that the Brazilian law on waste reduction was violated and emissi- ons were not reduced to the same extent as in Germany? The dossier also contains reports on illegal discharges into a river. Wolfgang Muhlhaus, who was works manager in 1993 at the time this happened, admitted him- self that Bayer had polluted the river Sarapui and thus the Guanabara bay. There would have been no point in lying anyway as it was documented in a study of the environmental authority.

Modern products and plants?

The FAZ could also have spoken about the Bayer paragon to relatives of two victims who were killed in lethal accidents last year. Although the two chemical workers suffocated in a tank truck on the company's premi- ses, Bayer relocated the deaths to a place outside the works to avoid the consequences, such as investigations and compensation claims. Eight people have died in the last six years in a factory with 2500 - 1600 em- ployees, three alone as a result of sulphuric acid burns. There have also been cases of contamination with phosgene, chromium and very toxic phosphoric esters. Even the giant Leverkusen complex with its 30,000 employees cannot compete with such figures.

As recently as the end of September there was a fire in Belford Roxo involving the "modern" pro- duct, parathion, a derivative of E 605. Due to its high toxicity, the WHO classifies this chemical in category la., extremely hazardous. And intere- sted readers may wonder where the contaminated fire-fighting water went to. Is there separate drainage or a collecting basin such as were con- structed in Bayer's German factories after the Sandoz catastrophe? The simple answer is no.

The FAZ claim that only modern equipment is used in Belford Roxo was even contradicted by Bayer in a recently concluded wage round, in which they reported that the chromate plant was substantially less modern and therefore less profitable than the one in Argentina. And that investment was at risk if higher wages were demanded. In Malaysia everything is much cheaper. As long ago as 1990 members of German Bayer works councils demanded investment to modernize the problematic chromate plant. And which modern products are meant? Phosgene, sulphuric acid, chlorobenzene, phosphoric esters, dichromates, isocyanates? These have been known since the First World War at least.

And now to another paragon, the Bayer subsidiary Tibras, which was rightly described in the FAZ as "Leverkusen's disgrace". Whether the im- provements in the environmental situation are a result of Bayer's increased commitment or the enormous local protests is a matter of opinion. But the fact remains that children burnt their feet in sulphuric acid (due to the waste products of titanium dioxide production) on the beach near the factory. In a press release, employees drew attention to the contradiction between the PR-effective nature reserve for turtles, sponsored by Tibras and other companies, and their own working conditions. Under the head- line "Turtles to protect petrochemical workers", they reported on their occupational diseases and poisoning, which in contrast to the fate of the turtles, hardly anyone seems interested in.

Speaking of occupational diseases. Although the period of notice for em- ployees suffering from occupational diseases is one year, Tibras just throws them out. The one year's wages, which is the minimum entitlement of the dismissed person, is as often as not beaten down. In the wave of dismissals at the beginning of the nineties, 40% of the dimissed workers had to be reinstated because they "happened to be" suffering from an oc- cupational disease. The workers had to go to court to enforce their right of seeing the results of their company medical examinations. Last year 280 employees and ex-employees mounted a factory gate protest against another injustice. For fourteen years parts of their wages, such as overti- me bonuses and shift payments had been withheld even after they had won court cases at all levels. Anyone who knows a little about Brazil will ap- preciate what this withholding of wages meant for those affected. It is also a scandal that drastic personnel cuts were not accompanied by a red- undancy plan, but long-serving colleagues were thrown out two or three years before retirement and so lost a large part of their pension entitle- ments.

Last month Tibras showed once again what a paragon they are. Two employees suffered burns, some of them third degree, whilst repai- ring equipment which operates with X-rays. The first doctor to examine them demanded that this accident be reported, as is the statutory require- ment. Five days later he was dismissed after another member of the medi- cal staff had said that the injuries were common allergic reactions. Tibras was informed otherwise by the federal atomic authority and, following pressure from the trade union, submitted a backdated accident report after a delay of ten days. So much for the paragon Tibras, a Bayer subsidiary.

"What applies to Bayer should also apply to the Hoechst and BASF fac- tories in Brazil", the FAZ wrote. How true! In 1990 the BASF subsidiary Glasurit contravened the standard which prohibits asbestos. Members of German works councils, who had just attended asbestos clearance in their local factories, were told by works manager Roth during a tour of the factory that Brazilian law did not prohibit asbestos and that he therefore saw no need for action. Double standards and disregard for human life, as the German colleagues noted.

Trade unionists not welcome

Neither have the multinationals anything to be proud of when it comes to workers' rights. Only after prolonged protests did Bayer and BASF grant their employees the opportunity of electing a works council with minimal rights. To this day Hoechst still refuses to do this. The company is not interested in the long list of trade unionists punished by dismissal, which it is repeatedly confronted with. There are currently two salesmen in Rio and ten trade unionists in Suzano who have to suffer for their union acti- vities.

During the strike at Bayer Belford Roxo in 1989, the military police was called, and shortly afterwards the head of company security was decora- ted with a military medal, something that was greatly celebrated in the company newspaper. Furthermore, the entire union leadership was dis- missed. Glasurit also dismissed union activists. Some were reinstated fol- lowing support from Germany.

German works council members and trade unionists are also threatened to prevent them from making incidents public. This is called duty of loyalty. Are the chemical factories here then really paragons? The accidents at Sandoz, Hoechst and most recently at BASF show that a lot still needs to be improved in this country and pressure from these companies to dilute statutes and regulations must be resisted.