Breaking news: agrochemical giant Bayer just announced it’s merging with the most hated company on the planet: Monsanto.
These two companies joining into one mega-corporation is truly the stuff of nightmares. Together they would be the biggest seed company AND the biggest pesticide company in the world with control over nearly everything we eat and grow. It means more bee-killing neonics in our fields, more toxic glyphosate on our plates, and more corporate control over our food supply.
But this fight is not over -- in fact it’s just beginning.
Bayer and Monsanto will have to get this merger past regulators in the U.S. and Europe -- and that’s where we come in. We’re already working with some of the world’s top legal minds to prove that the merger violates anti-trust law -- but to convince the regulators to step in, it will take a massive grassroots outcry as well.
Regulators can still stop this merger if they find it violates anti-trust law. But they’re already getting hammered by corporate lobbyists pressuring them to back off. That’s why they won’t intervene unless the grassroots speak out loud and clear. And we don’t have much time -- anti-trust regulators have a limited amount of time to take action, and the clock is already ticking.
If enough of us chip in, we could:
- Initiate antitrust lawsuits in the European Union and in the United States
- Mobilise farmers in US farming states to pressure their representatives
- Commission opinion polls to show public opposition to the merger in German and in key election states in the US
- Work with citizens in Bayer’s home country of Germany, where political leaders are already under massive pressure because of our campaign to ban Monsanto’s glyphosate in Europe
If we don't win this, the experts agree: it'll mean higher food prices for all of us, with less choice, and the scary possibility of a massive monoculture that could be wiped out with just one bad disease.
Since the announcement of the merger was made, over half a million people have joined the call to stop this merger from hell. Thanks to the SumOfUs community, we were able to get some of the world’s top legal minds to prove that the merger is a disaster, and simply can’t go ahead. We’ve published the legal results as a white paper and you have tweeted and emailed the European and US antitrust authorities in a massive public outcry against this deal. We’ve turned up at eve3 public event Bayer and Monsanto are planning to protest this merger. We’ve even gotten celebrity support from Mark Ruffalo for our campaign.
If you can chip in, we can expand our work on this campaign and plan with confidence. It’ll mean we can think big and really have a chance to stop this merger.
More information
Why Bayer's massive deal to buy Monsanto is so worrisome
Vox. 14 September 2016.
Vox. 14 September 2016.
Bayer-Monsanto Deal Would Forge New Agricultural Force
Wall Street Journal. 14 September 2016.
Wall Street Journal. 14 September 2016.
Bayer, Monsanto Agree to Merge in $66 Billion Deal
Fortune. 14 September 2016.
Fortune. 14 September 2016.