German chemicals and pharmaceuticals giant Bayer on Monday said it will discard the name Monsanto when it takes over the controversial U.S. seeds and pesticides producer this week, as environmental groups kept up their criticism of the mega-merger, reports Tom Barfield on Yahoo.com.
The move comes after years of protests against Monsanto’s activities by environmental groups that have badly damaged the company’s brand.
But Bayer executives insisted that Monsanto practices rejected by environmentalists, including genetic modification of seeds and deployment of “crop protection” technologies like pesticides, were vital to help feed a growing world population.
“The company name is and will remain Bayer. Monsanto will no longer be a company name,” chief executive Werner Baumann said.
