American Cyanamid

American Cyanamid is a large, diversified, American chemical manufacturer, founded by Frank Washburn in 1907.

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Lederle Laboratories, maker of Centrum and Stresstabs vitamins, was Cyanamid's pharmaceutical division. Davis & Geck was the company's medical device division. In consumer products, its Shulton division made Old Spice cologne, Breck shampoo and Pine-Sol floor cleaner. Melmac was Cyanamid's trademark for plastic kitchenware.[1]

In its later life, the company frequently brushed up against the law for its environmental practices. In the process, it abandoned a number of hazardous waste sites to the government, notably the Bound Brook and Bridgewater sites in New Jersey.

Portions of the company have been spun off to Criterion Catalysts & Technologies (1988, along with the catalyst businesses of Shell Oil Company and Shell International Chemical Company), American Home Products (1994, now Wyeth) and BASF (2000).

The company was involved in a well-known legal case in the United Kingdom which set the test for interim injunctions in England and Wales and set down what became known to lawyers as the "American Cyanamid" rules.[2]