바이엘-몬산토 합병이 실제로 가져올 일

농약에 대한 의존도, 소농의 종자 비용, 미국 가정의 식료품 비용, 꿀벌과 나비의 개체수 감소를 증가시킬 것이다. 

세계에서 가장 큰  두 농기업 사이의 합병이 목전에 있다. 종자와 농약의 거인 몬산토가 독일계 제약과 화학 회사인 바이엘과 합병하는 순간이 가까워지고 있다. 이는 농민과 수분매개자, 저렴하고 건강한 먹을거리에 재앙을 불러올 수 있는 통합이다. 

몬산토-바이엘의 합병이 독이 되는 관계인 이유는 다음과 같다. 

농약 사용 증가를 불러올 원스톱 쇼핑

When the same people who sell seeds for pesticide-resistant crops also make the pesticides, there’s a huge incentive for that company to encourage chemical-heavy growing practices, cashing in twice on farmers who become ever more dependent on its products. And when pests and weeds inevitably develop a resistance to those chemicals? More seeds. More pesticides.

If the merger gets the green light, the result is a megacorporation, not a recipe for competition and innovation. In the past, such monopolies have cost small farmers big-time. Take corn, for example. As the likes of Monsanto and other big ag companies gobbled up smaller seed sellers in recent decades, the cost of corn seednearly quadrupled while corn prices are roughly the same as they were in 1996.

꿀벌과 나비들에게는 나쁜 소식

As you likely know, pollinators are in trouble. Bees are dying off in record numbers (without them, our crops would take a serious hit) and monarch butterfly numbers have dropped nearly 90 percent in just the past two decades. While climate change and habitat loss are contributing to these declines, we can also point a finger at neonics and glyphosate—two types of pesticides commonly found in Bayer and Monsanto products. Americans are spraying more and more of these toxins on crops and lawns—we used 3.5 million pounds of neonics in 2011 alone (double the amount used just five years earlier)—and pollinators are paying the price.

건강과 함께 우리의 지갑도 타격을 받을 수 있다

As farmers pay more for seeds and Monsanto–Bayer rakes in more cash, American families could be forking over more money at the grocery store. One in eight familiesin the United States already struggle to put dinner on the table, and climate change threatens to disrupt food production worldwide. Further, the World Health Organization classifies glyphosate, the widely used herbicide found in Monsanto’s Roundup, as a probable carcinogen, and increasing its use would only put more fieldworkers, consumers, and those living near farms at risk.

In these challenging times, we need a more diverse marketplace—one that values public health, the environment, and the rights of farmers—to spur innovation and encourage resilient food supplies. What we don’t need is a megacorporation with the power (and the financial incentive) to lock in a food system that douses our food and soils with toxic chemicals.

https://www.nrdc.org/stories/what-would-monsanto-bayer-merger-really-grow?utm_source=tw&utm_medium=tweet&utm_campaign=Toxics