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Article

27 Mar 2018

Author:
Carlo Motta, The European Sting

The EU clears Bayer-Monsanto merger amid wide competition and environmental concerns

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[T]he European Union formally gave its approval to Germany multinational company Bayer’s $62.5 billion acquisition of US-based Monsanto... [where] the merger still needs to be cleared...

[C]ampaigners and non-governmental organizations have been voicing concerns about the impact that such an “endless” new company [...] could have... US-based online campaign group Avaaz was among the first one to criticize the EU approval. “...The Commission ignored a million people who called on them to block this deal, and caved in to lobbying to create a mega-corporation which will dominate our food supply..."

Friends of the Earth Europe spoke of data concerns. “The Commission decision also allows them [Bayer and Monsanto], together with BASF, to become data giants in agriculture – the ‘Facebooks of farming'”...

Slow Food president Carlo Petrini also expressed his criticism. In a letter sent last week to the European Commissioner [he] said: “We are deeply concerned by the conditions of dependence that are created by this merger. We cannot afford to have the future of food in hands of so few. Food is a human right...”

Monsanto has been targeted many times by environmentalists and campaigners for being one of the main creators of products containing glyphosate, an herbicide that has been suspected for a long time by the World Health Organization to be carcinogenic.