![[ beyond mcdonald's ]](../beyond_pix/beyond.gif)
Hoechst AG in the McSpotlight
Hoechst AG in the McSpotlight
| What's Wrong With Hoechst AG | Opposition & Campaigns | Company Profile |
| Hoechst-Roussel
was on a list produced in 1990 by the US Generic Pharmaceutical Industry
of companies accused of fraudulent and deceptive practices. They have a
long history of marketing dangerous and carcinogenic drugs to developing
countries.
Their activies have not been restricted to developing countries though: in 1989, according to US EPA data, Hoechst Celanese was one of the leading releasers in the USA of known or suspected carcinogens. And in 1990, residents in Pampa, Texas brought a lawsuit against Hoechst Celanese alleging that toxic emissions from its plant caused near epidemic levels of leukaemia and Downs Syndrome. Hoescht AG is part of the pharmaceutical industry. It is not only the specific practices of individual companies that cause problems. The attitudes created by the currrent system of exploitation gives power and profits to the few, at the expense of people, animals and the environment. It is important to expose the unethical practices of specific companies as their behaviour is often indicative of the entire system. |
 |
Hoescht's Neo Melubrina (diyrone) painkiller was sold over-the-counter in Mexico despite the fact that dipyrone is banned or severely restricted in developed countries because of the risk of the potentially fatal side effects, agranulocytosis (lack of white blood cells) and shock. Hoechst is the largest manufacturer of dipyrone and introduced it in 1992. Hoechst has also been criticised for recommending dipyrone for trivial pains. It recommended it for: influenza in March 1988 in Thailand: pains, fever and spasms in Africa in March 1989; muscular rheumatism in the Philippines in April 1988; pain and fever in India in February 1988; fever, lumbago, sciatica, influenza and cold in Brazil in 1988. Hoechst markets the organotin molluscide Brestan in the Philippines, to control the over-proliferated Golden Apple Snail. It can be a serious health hazard, with reports of finger and toenails peeling off, headaches, nausea, shortness of breath, burns and blindness. Despite its banning in the Philippines in mid-1990 by the Food & Pesticides Authority, it was reported in February 1991 that 20 women had been found dead in fields recently sprayed with Brestan. In 1991, the US FDA fined Hoechst $202,000 for failing to disclose that its anti-depressant drug, Nomifenine, had caused several deaths in Europe. [The Ethical Consumer Guide to Everyday Shopping published by the Ethical Consumer Research Association.] |
![[ CHAINSAW LOGO ]](../beyond_pix/environment.gif) |
Hoechst has been targeted by German Greenpeace
because of its continued production of CFCs. Hoechst relented and agreed
to phase out their use by 1994 but replaced them with hydrocarbons which
also destroy the ozone layer. [The Ethical Consumer Guide to Everyday Shopping published by the Ethical Consumer Research Association.] |
 |
Hoechst was reported in 1990 to be testing
CFC substitutes on animals. [The Ethical Consumer Guide to Everyday Shopping published by the Ethical Consumer Research Association.] |
Exploitation and profiteering do not need to exist. A better way of running our lives can be created based on the sharing of resources and on respect for each other and for nature. Increasingly people are questioning and challenging those with power and are seeking alternatives. Let's hope it's possible to make a difference.
|
Company Profile Products and brandnames: Shampoo: Batiste, Corimist, Once, Seborin, Supersoft |
Postal address(es): Hoechst AG D-6230 Frankfurt 80 Postfach 80 03 20 Germany |
Phone number(s): not known Fax number(s): not known |
| Online presence:
Email address(es): postmaster@hoechst.com |
|
![[ mcspot logo small ]](../../campaigns/campaigns_pix/mcspot.gif)