This video says about itself:
23 May 2016
From Tokyo and Mexico to Paris: more than 400 cities in 50 countries rally against biotech seed giant Monsanto. Monsanto received an unsolicited multibillion-dollar takeover bid from German chemicals company Bayer. A merger could put almost 30% of the world’s seed and pesticide market into Bayer-Monsanto’s hands.
Translated from Dutch NOS TV:
Dutch farmers fear Monsanto merger
Today, 18:08
Horticulturists and farmers are unhappy about the tender offer that the German chemical giant Bayer released this morning to the US seed improvement company Monsanto. Bayer offers 62 billion dollars to merge with Monsanto and thereby strengthen its position in the market for seeds and crop dusting. …
The Netherlands Agricultural and Horticultural Organisation (LTO) is afraid that the merger will create such a big player that there will hardly be any competition left. The supply of seeds, for example, of tomatoes and cucumbers, but also supplying the controversial pesticide Roundup will then be almost exclusively controlled by Bayer. …
LTO spokesman Joris Baecke, who is himself a farmer, says “This merger would mean that we would have less and less choice in the seeds and crops that we grow. We fear that there will eventually be less food variety for consumers.”
Sustainable agriculture
Also the farmers think that innovations in the field of sustainable agriculture, with minimal use of pesticides, will come to a halt. Baecke: “We have in the future a demand for varieties and crops that are more resistant to diseases, pests and new climatic influences. If you see that companies that are active in both the development of varieties and in producing chemical pesticides are merging, then we do not expect that we will get crops that require fewer pesticides.”
LTO hopes that the German and US competition authorities will stop the Monsanto merger.
Dear Kitty. Some blog 
Dear friends,
A toxic weed-killer that probably causes cancer is so common that studies have found it in our blood, but we have we no idea when we are exposed to it.
Now, for the first time ever, glyphosate could be banned — THANKS TO OUR MASSIVE CAMPAIGNING!!
For a year Monsanto has lobbied Europe to re-approve this poison, and Avaazers have blocked every time. Now it’s being brought to a final vote, and the chemical giants are pulling out all the stops.
But our public campaigning is beating them out, and we have an extraordinary, against the odds, chance to win.
We have just five days! Sign the urgent petition now — if we all raise our voices we could get this poison off our shelves. Each signature counts — our numbers will be shown on an LED screen right outside the meeting:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/stop_glyphosate_loc_eu/?bHFhfab&cl=10078222866&v=77071
We’re all at risk. And it’s not just a threat to our health, chemical-driven industrial agriculture produces a third of greenhouse gases, and destroys ecosystems that sustain life on Earth. The sooner we phase out glyphosate the better. If we rise to this moment, our movement will be playing a key role in one of the key battles of our time.
Relicensing glyphosate was supposed to be a formality and decided behind closed doors, but our massive petition, tens of thousands of phone calls, emails and tweets to EU government officials, and protests have made the impossible possible. Now it’s crunch time!
But we are up against one of the most powerful companies in the world. Glyphosate is the chemical cornerstone of Monsanto’s empire, and it brings in billions per year. That’s why it’s going to take all of us to make sure the decision makers see unprecedented numbers demanding precaution before profits. Join now and spread the word:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/stop_glyphosate_loc_eu/?bHFhfab&cl=10078222866&v=77071
If we win in Europe — we are not only setting a course away from glyphosate globally, we are challenging the absurd system by which these chemicals are approved, and dealing a critical blow to the corporate capture of our democracies. With this we will begin to change the future of our food all over the world. This is our moment to turn the tide — let’s do it!
In determination and hope,
Bert, Pascal, Alice, Lisa, Camille, Luca, Antonia and the whole Avaaz team
MORE INFORMATION:
European commission plans to relicense ‘carcinogenic’ weedkiller (The Guardian)
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/apr/22/european-commission-glyphosate-weedkiller-leaked-proposal
Two-thirds of Europeans support ban on glyphosate, says Yougov poll (The Guardian)
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/apr/11/two-thirds-of-europeans-support-ban-on-glyphosate-says-yougov-poll
European Parliament votes to ban most uses of glyphosate (The Ecologist)
http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/2987554/european_parliament_votes_to_ban_most_uses_of_glyphosate.html
EU to propose shorter glyphosate license renewal: sources (Reuters)
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-eu-glyphosate-idUSKCN0YL1N4
EU states rebel against plans to relicense weedkiller glyphosate (The Guardian)
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/mar/04/eu-states-rebel-against-plans-to-relicense-weedkiller-glyphosate
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Thursday 2nd June 2016
posted by Morning Star in World
EU CHIEFS defied the will of the European Parliament yesterday by announcing a push to extend use of a weedkiller linked to cancer in humans.
European Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis called for a “limited extension of the current approval” for the herbicide glyphosate, which the International Agency for Research on Cancer evaluates as “probably carcinogenic to humans.”
Campaigns for the herbicide to be banned have led member-state governments to hesitate over the Commission’s bid to see it approved again.
Its current licence lasts only till the end of June and the Commission has twice cancelled votes at the last minute by representatives of the 28 countries that make up the EU, fearing they might not approve its use.
The European Parliament passed a resolution in April strongly opposing the Commission’s bid to extend approval for another 15 years, but it lacks the power to do anything about it.
Since then, the Commission has sought to appease critics by reducing the proposed extension to nine and seven years.
http://morningstaronline.co.uk/a-81a0-EU-demands-more-use-of-cancer-linked-weedkiller#.V1HmoeRnU4A
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18 months ago, Monsanto’s vast chemical-agricultural empire was rock solid.
Now, after over 2 million of us ran 20 campaigns, with millions of signatures, messages, phone calls, stunts, advocacy meetings and media stories… the future of the ‘Monsanto model’ is actually in question!!
The European Union just refused to grant Monsanto a new license for its flagship product – the pesticide glyphosate. This is massive – glyphosate accounts for up to a third of all Monsanto’s revenue!
“Looking to where we were in the beginning of this year and where we are now, Avaaz is indisputably the driving force of the fight for glyphosate discontinuance.”
Pavel Poc, Vice-Chair of the EU Parliament’s Environment Committee, and key leader of the glyphosate fight
Collage Monsanto model
This is far from over. But it’s an utter game-changer for countries like Germany, France and Italy to challenge the basis of Monsanto’s entire business model.
Avaaz delivers glyphosate petition at the EU parliament
Avaaz petition delivered to European Parliament
We haven’t been knee-jerk anti-pesticide. Our campaign calls for a suspension until independent science determines the safety of glyphosate. We’ll keep fighting, but if the EU allows 18 months for a new scientific process to weigh in, and we can ensure that process is truly independent, we could win this!!
We can also use the next 18 months to focus scrutiny on the global environmental impact of the Monsanto model, which is turning the surface of our planet into strange, toxic “biodeserts” where only one genetically modified Monsanto crop can grow.
Like with climate change and the Paris agreement, Avaaz has mobilised people on this issue at an unprecedented scale – we’ve taken the fight against Monsanto to a whole new level, and now it’s up to all of us, over the next 18 months, to win it.
First big oil, now Monsanto. We are taking on the dragons of our world. But if we stick together, and choose to believe and act, we can do anything.
With hope and determination,
Ricken, Alice, Bert, Pascal and the whole Avaaz team
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