By Gina Munsey •
May 29, 2009
The chemical giant Bayer — the same Bayer which brought you aspirin, heroin and mustard gas, and currently manufactures a wide variety of pesticides, herbicides, polyurethanes and other questionable chemicals — has wrapped their toxic fingers around our rice.
This is nothing new. The company’s glufosinate-resistant LL62 genetically modified rice isn’t commercially grown, but that doesn’t mean that it hasn’t already entered the global food supply.
By Michael A. Weber •
December 29, 2008
Following a slew of environmental failures by Bayer CropScience, the EPA has issued a punishment that some say does not go nearly far enough. While the chemical giant will be required to pay about one million dollars in fines and safeguards against future disasters, the punishment will hardly put a dent in their profits, which were reported at nearly $5 billion in 2007.
The agreement was made possible from a deal between the EPA and Bayer, and the bulk of the fines are in the form of Bayer buying pollution control devices for the city of Charleston, West Virginia. But the local group People Concerned About MIC says that the punishments don’t go nearly far enough.
The group is calling on the EPA to require Bayer to buy gas masks for everyone in the Kanawha Valley, as well as fund a community health study.
