"Corporate Cabal's" Control of Food Supply Continues as Chemical Giants Eye Monsanto Takeover

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/05/12/corporate-cabals-control-food-supply-continues-chemical-giants-eye-monsanto-takeover

German chemical giants Bayer AG and BASF SE are both considering takeovers of U.S. seed behemoth Monsanto, according to news reports on Thursday.

Of the potential Bayer takeover of Monsanto, valued at roughly $40 billion, Bloomberg noted that it "would create the world’s largest supplier of seeds and farm chemicals."

As USA Today reported, "A bid for Monsanto would be just the most recent in a wave of chemical and agribusiness consolidation."

Indeed, in February China National Chemical Corp. (ChemChina) announced it would acquire Swiss pesticide company Syngenta for $43 billion, while DuPont and Dow Chemical merged last year, a move some decried as bad news for people and the planet.

Of the ChemChina-Syngenta merger, Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of the advocacy group Food & Water Watch, said it "has far reaching impacts on the food supply, the environment and consumers. There is a growing demand by consumers to know what they are eating, how it is grown and how it impacts their communities. Global agribusiness mega-mergers like the proposed ChemChina-Syngenta deal give a corporate cabal a stranglehold on the world’s farmers and the world’s eaters."