Mobay Chemical Corporation, based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was a joint venture of Monsanto Company and Bayer to market polyurethanes in the United States. 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 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 sprayed in Operation Ranch Hand (1962-1972).
[CBGNetwork, 03/2013 BAYER: Company History Whitewashed (accessed 2013-07-13)] Prior to the
Gulf War, in April 1990, Mobay and Occidental Chemical Corporation refused to sell chemicals to the Department of Defense for military use (particularly, with
thionyl chloride, 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.
[The Pittsburgh Press, July 5th, 1990: Weapons feud is over, Mobay says by Joe Smydo (accessed 2013-07-20)] 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.]
