Tell the Department of Justice: Stop the merger from hell!

Bayer the Bee-Slayer and Monsanto the Butterfly Killer are trying to merge into one giant pesticide corporation.

If this merger goes through, the new company would be the largest manufacturer and seller of herbicides. It would double down on making toxic chemicals like glyphosate (a.k.a. Roundup®) -- which is a key culprit in monarch butterfly declines and is a probable human carcinogen. We can't let that happen.

DOJ Antitrust Division

Department of Justice

To Whom It May Concern in the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division,

I’m very alarmed by the proposed Bayer-Monsanto merger. This merger threatens the future of innovation in our food system, compromises our food security and endangers farmers, workers and consumers. The mergers threaten to significantly reduce farmer choice and quality of seeds and increase their prices. This merger is poised to significantly alter our food and farming system and I urge the Department of Justice to stop this merger from moving forward.

Just this week a new survey and white paper were released that demonstrate widespread opposition from farmers to this merger. According to the poll, of the farmers who responded: 
•	93.7 percent are concerned about the proposed merger of Bayer and Monsanto (82.8 percent are very concerned/10.9 percent somewhat concerned);
•	93.7 percent of farmers are concerned that the proposed Bayer-Monsanto merger will negatively impact independent farmers and farming communities (83.9 percent are very concerned/9.8 percent somewhat concerned).

Farmers were overwhelmingly concerned that the merged company will use its dominance in one product to push sales of other products, that Bayer/Monsanto will control data about farm practices and that the merger will result in increased pressure for chemically dependent farming. Plus, farmers are concerned that the merger will increase prices and diminish quality, choice and seed varieties including availability of regionally adaptive seed, which farmers identified as critical given increasing climate variability.

Further, the evidence is clear that any of Bayer’s proposed divestiture and behavioral remedies will not solve farmer and consumer concerns. The only answer to this merger is for the Department of Justice to reject it.

If Bayer and Monsanto are allowed to merge, the resulting company would be the world’s largest vegetable seed producer with a near monopoly on the broccoli, carrot and onion seed markets. It would be the world’s largest cotton seed company, owning seed for about 70% of all the cotton grown in the U.S. It would also be the largest manufacturer and seller of herbicides as well as the world’s largest owner of the intellectual property and patents for herbicide-tolerant seed traits.

Polling shows that Americans share farmers’ concerns. A poll found that 9 in 10 Americans have serious concerns about the Bayer+Monsanto merger due to impacts on jobs, food safety, and independent farmers. It is clear from the poll that Americans want their elected officials to counter the move toward corporate monopolies. The poll found 90% of Americans, including 92% of Trump voters, believe that the Trump Administration should take a more aggressive stance towards corporate monopolies.

I urge you to add this farmer survey and white paper to documents in your investigation and stop this merger from moving forward. The only answer to this merger is NO.

Sincerely,

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