Organisations from across the globe call on Bayer shareholders to end their attempts to undermine laws and regulations that protect the population and the environment. In Europe, for example, Bayer and its lobby group Croplife EU lobbied hard to take down the pesticide reduction law. In the US, Bayer tries to stop individuals from starting litigation when harm is done to them by a Bayer product. Thousands of American farmers and citizens have started court cases because they suffer from a form of cancer that is related to the use of the herbicide glyphosate, sold in Bayer and former Monsanto products like RoundUp. The compensation in the 181.000 claims has cost the company billions of dollars. The company is lobbying the US national and state authorities to end the possibility for victims of their products to file claims.
Liable for widespread PFAS pollution?
Bayer is a developer and producer of many PFAS pesticides. They break down to the small PFAS called Trifluoroacetic Acid, better known as TFA. This probably reprotoxic breakdown product is polluting drinking water on a massive scale. The problematic forever chemical seems to concentrate in plant tissue and products like wine. The Pesticide Action Network Europe revealed widespread contamination of water all over Europe and, recently, an alarming concentration in wine. Both producers and consumers might want to hold Bayer and other chemical companies accountable for this huge threat to health and the environment. Bayer would of course very much like to avoid this kind of claims.
The letter can be found here.
The annual meeting of Bayer shareholders will take place online Friday, April 25.
