Bayer buys Monsanto

[abaris]

Allegedly the Germans paid 66 billion dollars for the controversial company. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing. On the one hand the market gets even smaller with more and more Behemoth corporations swallowing each other and the little fish in the pond on the side. On the other hand it may be in Bayer's best interest not to continue on the controversial path Monsanto has taken. If for no other reason than because of bad publicity.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-monsan...SKCN11K128

German drugs and crop chemicals company Bayer has won over U.S. seeds firm Monsanto with an improved takeover offer of around $66 billion, ending months of wrangling after increasing its bid for a third time.

The $128 a share deal, up from Bayer's previous offer of $127.50 a share, is the biggest of the year so far and the largest cash bid on record.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Bayer was in the lead when poison gas became a commodity in WWI.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

BTW, I live in St. Louis, where Monsanto has it's headquarters (on Lindbergh Blvd., lovely campus.)

[Alex K]

I reckon that Bayer Arena will soon get roundup-ready lawn?

[Alex K]

Bayer was in the lead when poison gas became a commodity in WWI.

They are arguably most famous for Aspirin...

[Tiberius]

On the other hand it may be in Bayer's best interest not to continue on the controversial path Monsanto has taken.

What controversial path? Something actually controversial, or some controversy manufactured by GMO opponents?

[Minimalist]

Monsanto is hardly the white knight.

https://www.rt.com/usa/monsanto-patents-...rmers-547/

"The Supreme Court failed to grasp the extreme predicament family farmers find themselves in," said Gerritsen, an organic seed farmer in Maine. "The Court of Appeals agreed our case had merit. However ... safeguards they ordered are insufficient to protect our farms and our families."
In addition to Monday’s news and the appeals court decision against them, the plaintiffs - many of them non-GMO farmers and who make up over 25 percent of North America’s certified organic farmers - also lost a district court case.
“If Monsanto can patent seeds for financial gain, they should be forced to pay for contaminating a farmer’s field, not be allowed to sue them,” said Dave Murphy, founder and executive director of Food Democracy Now!, in a statement “Once again, America’s farmers have been denied justice, while Monsanto’s reign of intimidation is allowed to continue in rural America.”
“Monsanto has effectively gotten away with stealing the world’s seed heritage and abusing farmers for the flawed nature of their patented seed technology,” said Murphy. “This is an outrage of historic proportions and will not stand.”

[The Grand Nudger]

GMO Biopharmaceuticals.  

In addition to the public backlash against GE, there are costly and time consuming regulations in place for the approval of a GMO for human consumption.  Not so for the raw biomass it takes to manufacture pharmaceutical products.  There are hundreds of known species and thousands of known cultivars that are currently the basis of commercial medical production around the world. All any of these species needs is a novel trait which can be supported by a chemical back-end and specialized production equipment.  

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[Gawdzilla Sama]

Bayer was in the lead when poison gas became a commodity in WWI.

They are arguably most famous for Aspirin...

Never made the connection. 

[Gawdzilla Sama]

GMO Biopharmaceuticals.  

In addition to the public backlash against GE, there are costly and time consuming regulations in place for the approval of a GMO for human consumption.  Not so for the raw biomass it takes to manufacture pharmaceutical products.  There are hundreds of known species and thousands of known cultivars that are currently the basis of commercial medical production around the world.  All any of these species needs is a novel trait which can be supported by a chemical back-end and specialized production equipment.  

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"pubic backlash", rather.