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Disclosure Slide

Disclosure Slide. No conflicts of interest No discussion of off-label uses. Factory farms, antibiotics, and honeybees: the Bayer Corporation's subversion of public and environmental health. Martin Donohoe. vancomy. Outline. Agricultural Antibiotics Bayer Cipro and Anthrax Conclusions.

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Disclosure Slide

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  1. Disclosure Slide • No conflicts of interest • No discussion of off-label uses

  2. Factory farms, antibiotics, and honeybees:the Bayer Corporation's subversion of public and environmental health Martin Donohoe vancomy

  3. Outline • Agricultural Antibiotics • Bayer • Cipro and Anthrax • Conclusions

  4. Agricultural Antibiotic Use • Almost 9 billion animals per year “treated” to “promote growth” • Claim: Larger animals, fewer infections in herd

  5. Antibiotic Use • Non-therapeutic use – Animals: 71% • Use up 50% over the last 15 years • Therapy – livestock: 8% • Other (soaps, pets, etc.): 10% • Therapy – humans: 15% • Note some category crossover • 97% sold over-the-counter (despite 2013 FDA rules)

  6. US Leads the World in Agricultural Antibiotic Use (WHO, 2012)

  7. Agricultural Antibiotic Use • Large Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) make up 5% of livestock operations but produce more than 50% of food animals • 20,000 CAFOs in U.S. • Higher rates of use of non-therapeutic antibiotics

  8. Antibiotic-Resistant Human Infections “Antibiotic use in food animals is the dominant source of antibiotic resistance among food-borne pathogens.” (CDC)

  9. Food-Borne Illnesses • CDC: 48-76 million people suffer foodborne illnesses each year in the U.S. • 325,000 hospitalizations • 3,000 - 5,000 deaths • Increased risk of autoimmune disorders (GI, rheumatic diseases) • > $156 billion/yr in medical costs, lost wages, and lost productivity

  10. Consequences of Agricultural Antibiotic Use • Fluoroquinolone-resistant Campylobacter (most common food-borne bacterial infection in US) • Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VREF, due to avoparcin use in chickens)

  11. Consequences of Agricultural Antibiotic Use • Gentamycin- and Cipro-resistant E. coli in chickens • Linked to diarrhea and UTIs in humans • Methicillin-resistant Staph aureus (MRSA) • Association with pig farms

  12. Regulatory Advances • 2012: FDA issues voluntary guidelines to reduce antibiotic use • Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act – awaiting vote in Congress • AMA, AAP, APHA, IDS, UCS, Consumers Union, others all oppose non-therapeutic antibiotic use in livestock

  13. Bayer • Based in Leverkusen, Germany • 113,000 employees worldwide (2013) • Revenue: €40 billion (2013) • Profits: €3.2 billion (2013) • US = largest market

  14. Bayer • Pharmaceuticals • World’s leading pesticide manufacturer • One of world’s largest seed companies • Manufactures bis-phenol A (BPA)

  15. History of Bayer • Trademarked heroin in 1898 • Marketed as cough syrup for children “without side effects”, despite well-known dangers of addiction • Patented acetylsalicylic acid as aspirin in 1899

  16. History of Bayer • WW I: invented modern chemical warfare; developed “School for Chemical Warfare” • WW II: part of IG Farben conglomerate, which exploited slave labor at Auschwitz, conducted unethical human subject experiments (including funding Mengele) • Manufactured and supplied Zyklon B to the SS for use in gas chambers

  17. History of Bayer • 24 board members and executives indicted in Nuremberg Trials • 13 received prison sentences • Longest sentence to Fritz Meer • Convicted for plunder, slavery, and mass murder • Released from prison in 1952 • Chairman of supervisory board of Bayer 1956-1964

  18. History of Bayer • Early 1990s – admitted knowingly selling HIV-tainted blood clotting products which infected up to 50% of hemophiliacs in some developed countries • European taxpayers left to foot most of bill

  19. History of Bayer • 1995 onward - failed to follow promise to withdraw its most toxic pesticides from the market • Failed to educate farmers in developing nations re pesticide health risks

  20. Pesticides • EPA: U.S. farm workers suffer up to 300,000 pesticide-related acute illnesses and injuries/yr (25 million cases/yr worldwide) • NAS: Pesticides in food could cause up to 1 million cancers in the current generation of Americans • WHO: 1,000,000 people killed by pesticides over the last 6 years

  21. History of Bayer • 1998 –pays Scottish adult volunteers $750 to swallow doses of the insecticide Guthion to “prove product’s safety” • 2000 – cited by FDA and FTC for misleading claims regarding aspirin and heart attacks/strokes

  22. History of Bayer • 2000 – fined by OSHA for workplace safety violations related to MDA (carcinogen) exposures • 2000 – fined by Commerce Dept. for violations of export laws

  23. History of Bayer • 2001 –Violations in quality control contribute to worldwide clotting factor shortage for hemophiliacs (FDA) • 2002 - Baycol (cholesterol lowering drug) withdrawn from market • Linked to 100 deaths and 1600 injuries • Accused by Germany’s health minister of failing to inform government of lethal side effects

  24. History of Bayer • 2006: Bayer CropScience genetically-modified, herbicide-tolerant “Liberty Link” rice contaminates U.S. food supply • Bayer keeps contamination secret for 6 months • Worldwide cost estimates range from $740 million to $1.3 billion

  25. History of Bayer • 2007: Bayer suspends sales of Traysol (aprotinin) 2 years after data show increased deaths in heart surgery patients (Bayer withheld data) • 2008: FDA warns Bayer re unapproved marketing claims for Bayer Women’s Low Dose Aspirin plus Calcium and Bayer Heart Advantage

  26. History of Bayer • 2008: Explosion at Bayer CropScience plant in Institute, WV, kills 2 workers • Above-ground storage tank that can hold up to 40,000 lbs of methyl isocyanate) located 50-75 ft from blast area • Underground storage tank at plant site can store an additional 200,000 lbs • Methyl isocyanate (Bhopal (tens of thousands dead)

  27. History of Bayer • 2009: Bayer ordered by FDA and a number of states attorneys general to run a $20 million corrective advertising campaign about its birth control pill Yaz • 2010: Cited by Political Economy Research Institute as #1 toxic air polluter in the U.S.

  28. History of Bayer • Late 1990s - 2010s: Bayer pesticides imidacloprid, and clothianidin implicated in (honeybee) “colony collapse disorder” • 2013: EU places 2 year moratorium on bee-harming neonicotinoid pesticides (which may also harm birds and mammals)

  29. Bayer’s Corporate Agenda • Internalize profits, externalize costs (loyalty is to shareholders) • Corporate Front Groups • Harassment / SLAPP suits against watchdog groups • Anti-union • Lobbying, campaign donations

  30. Bayer, Cipro, and Anthrax • Post-9/11 anthrax scare • Treatment and prophylaxis options • Penicillin • Tetracycline • Ciprofloxacin (Cipro)

  31. Bayer and Cipro • Cipro - best selling antibiotic in the world for almost a decade • 1997 onward – Bayer pays Barr Pharmaceuticals and two other competitors $200 million not to manufacture generic ciprofloxacin, despite a federal judge’s 1995 decision allowing them to do so

  32. Cost of Cipro • Drugstore = $4.50/pill (2002) • US government had the authority, under existing law, to license generic production of ciprofloxacin by other companies for as little as $0.20/pill in the event of a public health emergency • It did not, but it cut a deal with Bayer to reduce the price of Cipro

  33. Cost of Cipro • US government agreed to buy 100 million tablets for $0.95 per pill (twice what is paid under other government-sponsored public health programs) • A full course of ciprofloxacin for postexposure prophylaxis (60 days) would then cost the government $204 per person treated, compared with $12 per person treated with doxycycline • Canada did override Bayer’s patent and ordered 1 million tablets from a Canadian manufacturer

  34. Why? • Weakening of case at WTO meetings that the massive suffering consequent to 25 million AIDS cases in Sub-Saharan Africa did not constitute enough of a public health emergency to permit those countries to obtain and produce cheaper generic versions of largely unavailable AIDS drugs

  35. Other Consequences • Opens door to other situations involving parallel importing and compulsory licensing • Threatens pharmaceutical industry’s massive profits • the most profitable industry in the US

  36. Bayer • Fortune Magazine (2001): one of the “most admired companies” in the United States • Multinational Monitor (2001, 2003): one of the 10 worst corporations of the year

  37. Conclusions • Triumph of corporate profits and influence-peddling over urgent public health needs • Stronger regulation needed over: • Agricultural antibiotic use • Drug pricing • Stiffer penalties for corporate malfeasance necessary (fines and jail time)

  38. Reference • Donohoe MT. Factory farms, antibiotics, and anthrax. Z Magazine 2003 (Jan):28-30. Available at http://zmagsite.zmag.org/Jan2003/donohoe0103.shtml • Food safety/food justice page of phsj website at http://phsj.org/food-safety-issues/

  39. Contact Information Public Health and Social Justice Website http://www.publichealthandsocialjustice.org http://www.phsj.org martindonohoe@phsj.org

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