$66,000,000,000
Sixty-six billion dollars
That's how much Bayer just agreed to pay to acquire Monsanto in a deal which will potentially have tectonically negative consequences for the world and your longevity.
Without making to much of a treatise on why anti-trust laws exist, this deal is not a product of the free market, these companies are quintessential examples of crony capitalism gone very awry.
A white paper by Konkurrenz Group, a leading law firm specializing in mergers and acquisitions concludes that this merger is in violation of the Clayton Act
"No person . . . shall acquire, directly or indirectly, . . . where in any line of commerce or in any activity affecting commerce in any section of the country, the effect of such acquisition may be substantially to lessen competition, or to tend to create a monopoly."
Despite the apparent illegality and public outrage Bayer is betting a billion dollars that the deal will go through.
While Monsanto will face a tribunal at The Hague in October 2016 these companies are too big to fail and too big to jail. In 2013 Obama signed, what was widely called, the Monsanto Protection Act which even conspiracy theory adverse Snopes couldn't deny is a "precedent-setting limitation on judicial review of genetically-engineered crops."
What can we do?
A petition calling on anti-trust authorities in the US and EU to further scrutinize this merger has already been signed by over a half million people. I've signed it, I hope you will too!
I'll join the many others that are responding to this merger with a boycott of Bayer's products. Below I list 40 of Bayer's consumer products, I'll present alternatives, nutraceutical solutions along with diet and lifestyle recommendations for avoiding needing to buy Bayer's products.
I also don't personally recommend all of the alternative products and brands mentioned; they may have their own side effects and downsides. Their common redeeming feature is that they are not manufactured by Bayer.
Before consuming anything a smart consumer will always spend at least 20 minutes Googling that product seeing what other people on Youtube and forums have to say about their experiences with it.
