Almost everything you eat could be controlled by a single mega-corporation, if Bayer gets its way and buys Monsanto.
Once the deal goes ahead it could spell disaster for our food supply and farmers, ushering in a new era of sterile crops soaked in dangerous pesticides. If the deal is successful, it'll make the new corporation the biggest seed maker and pesticide company in the world -- and it will have almost total control of the most important aspects of our food supply.
There is still time to stop it, but we need to act fast.
At the centre of Bayer and Monsanto's corporate agribusiness model is the indiscriminate, widespread use of pesticides linked to the massive global bee die-off.
We stand a real chance to stop this deal. Bayer depends on us to buy its medicine every time we get sick. And Bayer’s shareholders know we simply wouldn't trust the company anymore once it’s joined with Monsanto -- its shares have already fallen a massive 12% since the takeover was announced.
All of this is making Bayer’s shareholders nervous. If we pile on the pressure now, the shares could fall even further and mobilise investors to demand Bayer pulls out of the deal.
Between us, SumOfUs members have made great strides in holding agrichemical giants to account.
Just last week we struck a huge blow against Monsanto. An EU vote scheduled for this week to re-approve Roundup chemical glyphosate had to be cancelled last minute due to lack of support from governments like France, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands. Thanks to our collective power, it looks like the tides might finally be turning against Monsanto and glyphosate.
We have also made great strides to protect our bees from Bayer's toxic neonics. It was also thanks to SumOfUs members that France moved towards a full ban on bee-killing neonicotinoids.
We are going at this with all guns blazing. We'll target lawmakers, antitrust regulators and force politicians to take a public stance. We'll reach out to Bayer shareholders and amplify the voices of farmers - the two groups that stand to lose the most from this deal, along with consumers.
Monsanto rejected the first offer from Bayer, but the negotiations are far from over. Once a merger like this goes through, Bayer and Monsanto will be even harder to stop -- we need to act now to block the creation of this massive corporate bee-killer.
Tell Bayer to stop its mega-merger with Monsanto.
Friends of the Earth
More information
Bloomberg BNA. 9 June 2016.
The Guardian. 17 May 2016.
The Wall Street Journal. 19 May 2016.
The New York Times. 18 May 2016.