Global Compact OfficeExecutive Director Georg Kellby e-mail: globalcompact@un.orgJune 16, 2009

Exclude Bayer AG from Global Compact

Dear Georg Kell,the

Coalition against Bayer Dangers

, an international network based in Germany, has beenmonitoring the chemical and pharmaceutical company Bayer for more than 30 years. We´reworking on a broad range of issues: emissions of Bayer plants, hazards caused by Bayer products(pesticides, pharmaceuticals, chemicals), accidents in Bayer plants, corporate influence, workingconditions, etc.We hereby want to submit a complaint dealing with Bayer´s recent serious violations of the GlobalCompact´s principles and integrity measures. Bayer's participation in the programme is detrimentalto the reputation and the credibility of the Global Compact and its participants.At Bayer's US facilities in Institute, West Virginia, the safety situation is highly critical. Largequantities of extremely toxic chemicals such as methyl isocyanate (MIC) and phosgene areproduced and stored. Accidents occur on a regular basis. In the 1980s, the factory belonged toUnion Carbide and was regarded as the "sister plant" to the infamous factory in Bhopal, India wherein December 1984 thirty tons of MIC leaked and at least 15,000 people died. Today, nowhere elsein the United States such large quantities of MIC are produced and stored.At last year's shareholder meeting, Bayer CEO Werner Wenning rejected any need for action. Hesaid that the plant conformed to the "latest safety standards" and had an "excellent incident rate".Despite these assurances, the most serious accident in the plant history ever happened just fourmonths later, on August 28, when a storage tank exploded. Two workers lost their lives andthousands of residents were not allowed to leave their houses for several hours. The tremors werefelt in a radius of more than 10 miles.

Advisory Board

Dr. Erika Abczynski / Kinderärztin / Dormagen Prof. Dr. Jürgen Rochlitz / Chemiker / BurgwaldEva Bulling-Schröter / MdB / Berlin Dr. Janis Schmelzer / Historiker / BerlinWolfram Esche / Rechtsanwalt / Köln Prof. Dr. Anton Schneider / Baubiologe / NeubeuernProf. Jürgen Junginger / Designer / Krefeld Dorothee Sölle / Theologin / Hamburg (gest. 2003)Dr. Sigrid Müller / Pharmakologin / Bremen

Coalition against BAYER Dangers Letter to UN Global Compactwww.CBGnetwork.org June 16, 2009 / page 3

The

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

(OSHA), after analyzing the incident,criticized "faulty safety systems, significant shortcomings with the emergency procedures and alack of employee training". In total OSHA identified 13 serious violations of safety regulations.Even worse - according to a US Congress investigation conducted in April the region narrowlyescaped a catastrophe that could have surpassed the 1984 Bhopal disaster. Congress investigatorsfound that the explosion "came dangerously close" to compromising an MIC storage tank. Had theexploded residue treater hit the MIC tank, "the consequences could have eclipsed the 1984 disasterin India."The investigation continues: "Evidence obtained by the committee demonstrates that Bayer engagedin a campaign of secrecy by withholding critical information from local, county and stateemergency responders; by restricting the use of information provided to federal investigators; byundermining news outlets and citizen groups concerned about the dangers posed by Bayer'sactivities; and by providing inaccurate and misleading information to the public." The committeeobtained memos in which officials suggested how the plant management should deal with localcitizen groups and journalists: "Our goal with

People Concerned About MIC

should be tomarginalize them," the memo said. "Take a similar approach to

The Charleston Gazette

.”Bayer CropScience CEO William Buckner conceded under oath that his company used chemicalplant security regulations to try to hide information about the incident and avoid a public debateover the large amounts of MIC stored at the Institute plant: "There were, of course, some businessreasons that also motivated our desire for confidentiality," Buckner said. "These included a desire tolimit negative publicity generally about the company or the Institute facility, to avoid publicpressure to reduce the volume of MIC that is produced and stored at Institute by changing toalternative technologies, or even calls by some in our community to eliminate MIC productionentirely." All documents published by the Congress Committee can be found at:http://energycommerce.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1583&catid=133&Itemid=73

These findings prove that Bayer systematically violates various principles of the GlobalCompact, such as principle 7 (Precautionary environmental protection), Principle 8 (Specificcommitment to environmental protection) and Principle 9 (Diffusion of environmentallyfriendly technologies). Bayer´s policies do not comply with the Compact’s principles onhuman rights and the environment and thereby are harmful to the credibility

of theprogramme.

We therefore urge you to exclude Bayer from the UN Global Compact.

Bayer has started dozens of partnerships and sponsorships with medical, environmental oreducational organizations - particularly in fields where the company is criticised. The involvementwith the UN and the UNEP take up a lot of space on the company`s website and in numerousadvertising brochures. Bayer’s use of the Global Compact thus is a classic case of “bluewash” –