Bayer and the Agrochemical Threat

Bayer and Monsanto

Exactly a year ago today, the European Union approved the $66 Million takeover by the German company Bayer of Monsanto. The US gave its go-ahead two months later and the deal was sealed on the 7th June. Monsanto had started off as a small saccharine business in Missouri in 1901 and developed into one of the biggest agrochemical companies in the world. Its trajectory was so seeped in unethical practices, that one of Bayer's priorities was to drop the toxic name. Erasing the name alone, however, will not absolve the damage that has been done, nor will it guarantee a change in a better direction. 

Roundup killing more than weeds

Roundup weedkiller, one of Monsanto's signature brands, has been in the news lately because of its alleged links to cancer. This week a jury in San Francisco ruled that Roundup weedkiller was indeed a substantial factor in a California man's onset of cancer. Last August, another California man was awarded $289 million in a similar case, though that sum was subsequently reduced and is now on appeal. There are about 11,200 cases still pending. More may spout following these developments. 

Bayer still maintains that glyphosate, the main ingredient, is safe to use. Indeed, since Monsanto's patent expired, it is used in many weedkiller products around the world. It is not just the farmers that are at rick. Many of the genetically modified (GM) seeds Monsanto produced were made to make them Roundup-resistant. So, much of the food and cotton produced in this way grew up shielded by glyphosate. 

Agent Orange and other sins

Monsanto was also one of the main producers of Agent Orange, a herbicide and defoliant that was used widely by the US during the Viet Nam conflict. The results were devastating, not only to the forests, but to millions of human and animal lives, many of which are still suffering the consequences. 

Ironically, Bayer, which was founded in Germany in 1863, was also guilty of supplying its government with chemical weapons. It supported the Nazis during the WWII and supplied the regime with the gas used to exterminate Jews in the death chambers. Of course, the US does not consider Agent Orange a banned chemical weapon. Judge J.B. Weinstein, who presided over a compensation claim in 2005, pointed out that the British had already set a president. The British had, in fact, used similar tactics to deal with insurgency in the Malay jungles. This is a rather odd way of judging ethical conduct, particularly when one goes into the gory details of British history.

Goodbye to good old crop farming

Some of those issues are history and we can hope that others will be so too. After all, it does not feel like that long ago when I was using an asbestos toaster! However, what is likely to linger, is the impact this agrochemical industry is having on traditional crop farming. Monsanto was linked to many suicides in India, when, for instance, farmers would pay over the top for miracle seeds that would sometimes fail. 

However, the main problem with farmers buying these seeds, is that they are designed in such a way as not to reproduce. So the traditional way of saving some seeds for the next crop is no longer possible. Farmers have to keep going back to the suppliers who call the shots. Apart from the expense to farmers, irrespective of the previous yield, what other consequences can these sterile seeds produce? If healthy ones start to go out of business and circulation the consequences could be apocalyptic.

Damage limitation is our responsibility 

These are just some of the issues relating to Bayer/Monsanto. There are others, such as pollution and endangering the earth's insect populations. When Bayer first suggested taking over Monsanto, Friends of the Earth was terribly alarmed. In November 2016 it announced:

Bayer the Bee-Slayer and Monsanto the Butterfly-Killer are trying to merge into one HUGE corporation. We must stop them! If these two companies merge, it would create the biggest seed and pesticide company in the world — giving it unprecedented control over our food supply. Take Action: Tell the DOJ to stop Bayer and Monsanto from merging now!

Of course it is too late for that now. Nevertheless, as I mentioned in yesterday's post, we must make sure that the damage such companies can cause is as limited as possible.