Social Responsibility
Yet Bayer HealthCare takes an even broader view of social responsibility. To us social responsibility relates to increasingly pressing ethical questions about the medical uses of modern biotechnology, as well as to global access to life-saving drugs. There are issues in which Bayer HealthCare expressly takes a stand, and to which the company is seeking answers on a global scale – in connection with the Global Compact Initiative, for example:
The Global Compact Initiative
The United Nations Global Compact Initiative is sponsored by both the United Nations as well as representatives of the international business community. In concrete terms, its purpose is to institute and advance on a global scale nine principles from the areas of human rights, labor standards and environmental protection. Bayer was a founding member of the Global Compact. In addition, Bayer HealthCare is also supporting numerous projects with similar objectives.
- Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights and
- make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses.
- Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining;
- the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labor;
- the effective abolition of child labor; and
- eliminate discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.
- Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges;
- undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility; and
- encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies.
The battle against the African Sleeping Sickness
Almost sixty million people in Africa are threatened by Sleeping Sickness. Bayer HealthCare has agreed to provide pharmaceutical products World Health Organisation (WHO) free of charge for an initial five-year period in the amounts forecast by the organization. In addition and as part of its corporate commitment to combat African sleeping sickness, Bayer HealthCare supports studies for a label extension of its pharmaceutical product Lampit (active ingredient: nifurtimox) for use in treating Sleeping Sickness.
