Mobay Chemical Corporation, based in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, was a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

Monsanto Company The Monsanto Company () was an American agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation founded in 1901 and headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Monsanto's best-known product is Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide, developed in ...

and

Bayer Bayer AG (English: , commonly pronounced ; ) is a German multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company and is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies and biomedical companies in the world. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Bayer' ...

to market

polyurethanes Polyurethane (; often abbreviated PUR and PU) is a class of polymers composed of organic chemistry, organic units joined by carbamate (urethane) links. In contrast to other common polymers such as polyethylene and polystyrene, polyurethane term ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Founded in 1954, Bayer bought out Monsanto's shares in the company in the 1970s. Mobay, along with Miles Laboratories, was a member of Bayer's

menagerie A menagerie is a collection of captive animals, frequently exotic, kept for display; or the place where such a collection is kept, a precursor to the modern zoo or zoological garden. The term was first used in 17th-century France, referring to ...

of companies in the US. Bayer did not own the US rights to its name. After a first failed attempt of appearing under the ''Bayer USA Inc.'' name in the US, Bayer consolidated its US operations under the ''Miles'' name in 1992.

Military issues

Mobay was one of the suppliers of the dioxin-contaminated 2,4,5-T used to produce the

Agent Orange Agent Orange is a chemical herbicide and defoliant, one of the tactical uses of Rainbow Herbicides. It was used by the U.S. military as part of its herbicidal warfare program, Operation Ranch Hand, during the Vietnam War from 1962 to 1971. T ...

sprayed in Operation Ranch Hand (1962-1972). Prior to the

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

, in April 1990, Mobay and Occidental Chemical Corporation refused to sell chemicals to the

Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, ...

for military use (particularly, with

thionyl chloride Thionyl chloride is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a moderately Volatility (chemistry), volatile, colourless liquid with an unpleasant acrid odour. Thionyl chloride is primarily used as a Halogenation, chlorinating reagen ...

, a chemical needed for the production of sarin.) The government considered filing suit against Mobay and Occidental for violating Title III of the Defense Production Act of 1950, which gives the government the power to requisition supplies for warfare. According to congresswoman Helen Delich Bentley (Rep., MD), when challenged, they told the Army, "It is policy—so sue us."''Correll, John T.''; ''Nash, Colleen A.'
Lifelines Abroad
// ''Army Research, Development & Acquisition Magazine'', March–April 1992, v. 33, no. 2, p. 9, ISSN 0892-8657.

References

Bayer Companies based in Pittsburgh Chemical companies established in 1954 Former joint ventures Monsanto {{US-manufacturing-company-stub