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