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Two of the world’s most powerful chemical companies — Bayer and Monsanto — carry controversial legacies that long predate their 2018 merger.Bayer’s history is linked to darker chapters of the 20th century. Its predecessor was part of IG Farben, the German chemical conglomerate that supplied Zyklon B, the poison gas used in Nazi extermination camps, and operated facilities with forced labor during WWII. After the war, several IG Farben executives were tried at Nuremberg. Decades later, Bayer faced additional scandals, including contaminated blood products in the 1980s and the withdrawal of its statin drug Baycol after dozens of deaths, both leading to lawsuits and criticism over safety standards.Monsanto’s legacy centers on chemical warfare and environmental contamination. In the 1960s, it manufactured components of Agent Orange, the defoliant sprayed over Vietnam that has been linked to cancers and birth defects. Veterans and affected communities later pursued legal action, and in 1984 Monsanto joined a $180 million class-action settlement. In 2013, the company agreed to a $93 million settlement to address dioxin contamination in West Virginia.Since Bayer acquired Monsanto, litigation has intensified. Roundup, the glyphosate-based herbicide, has been the subject of hundreds of thousands of lawsuits alleging links to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Major jury verdicts — some reaching into the billions — have followed, though many remain under appeal. Bayer has proposed multi-billion-dollar settlements, yet legal uncertainty continues.Together, the merged company now carries decades of legal battles tied to wartime chemicals, environmental damage, and one of the largest waves of corporate litigation in U.S. history.