FRANKFURT – Germany’s Bayer on Monday stopped all spending in Russia and Belarus not related to essential products in health and agriculture, citing Russia’s “brutal aggression” against Ukraine.
Bayer said in a statement it was suspending advertising, promotional activities, investment projects and new-business development but added it would continue to deliver essential products.
“Withholding essential health and agriculture products from the civilian populations – like cancer or cardiovascular treatments, health products for pregnant women and children as well as seeds to grow food – would only multiply the war’s ongoing toll on human life,” the company said.
Bayer’s products include contraceptives, haemophilia treatments, cancer drugs and stroke prevention pills as well as farming pesticides.
(Reporting by Ludwig Burger; Editing by Paul Carrel)