In 2016, German pharmaceutical company and pesticide maker Bayer announced it would purchase Monsanto for about $60 billion in cash. The merger is coming closer to being fully realized now, and NPR reports on the beginnings of Bayer’s campaign to refresh the well-deserved bad name of Monsanto.

Now, as the merger approaches, Bayer has confirmed what many suspected: In the merger, the politically charged name "Monsanto" will be disappearing.

The combined company will be known simply as Bayer, while product names will remain the same.

NBC gives us the Bayer company statement.

"Monsanto will no longer be a company name," Bayer said in a statement Monday. "The acquired products will retain their brand names and become part of the Bayer portfolio."

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet! Or, you know “a poison by any other name would be poison.”

"We aim to deepen our dialogue with society. We will listen to our critics and work together where we find common ground," the chairman of Bayer's board of management, Werner Baumann, said in the statement. "Agriculture is too important to allow ideological differences to bring progress to a standstill. We have to talk to each other. We need to listen to each other. It's the only way to build bridges."

There is nothing remarkable about Mr. Bauman’s promise to “deepen” the dialogue about bad acting on the part of the multibillion dollar business they will be heading. This is all par for the course at this point. We will see how the Bayer handles the many lawsuits against Monsanto products going forward, and the how they act in regard to safety and health regulations being proposed. I won’t hold my breath.