Subject: Bayer Is Withdrawing Chemicals in Europe------ To: Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov> Dear Mr. Helliker,
I thought you might like to read an article dated November 4, 2000, from
the New York Times entitled: Bayer Is Withdrawing Chemicals in Europe - By
BLOOMBERG NEWS EVERKUSEN, Germany, Nov. 3 - Bayer A.G. said this week that
it would withdraw about two-thirds of the 60 agricultural chemicals it has on
the market to comply with a European Union safety regulation. European regulators are reassessing all of about 800
agricultural chemicals now sold in Europe, Bayer officials said, and Bayer has
decided to drop less important products as they come up for reregistration in
the next few years rather than defend them through a long process requiring new
research. The move "will result in a limited loss in sales and
profit," said Jochen Wulff, who oversees farm chemicals at Bayer. Bayer's newest fungicides, the Flint line, and other
products that will drive sales should not be affected by the reassessment
because they were registered recently, said Andreas Heine, an analyst at
Hypovereinsbank who follows Bayer. Unlike drugs, agricultural chemicals have a
long lifespan and face little generic competition when patents expire. Many
products remain on the market two or three decades, and these older products
probably underwent far less stringent environmental and safety scrutiny then
than they would today, analysts said. Now,
"the number of pesticides will decrease, because a certain number of
products are not worth the renewal testing," said Hannelore Schmid, a
spokeswoman for the German trade association VCI. Bayer also said that it expected "considerably
higher" revenue in its agricultural chemicals unit for the full year after
first-half sales advanced 21 percent. Source url: http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/04/business/04BAYE.html?printpage=yes
Well Mr. Helliker, I find it very interesting that even
when Bayer withdraws two-thirds of their "registered" POISONS, their
revenues are expected to be considerably higher. Do you understand why this is not only very possible but in
fact is very probable? When will it
be "legal" (in your opinion) to use safe and far more effective and
far more economical (unregistered) alternatives in California? |
