Category: Pollution
Turning Toxic: The Bayer-Monsanto Merger
Roundup, a herbicide containing glyphosate sold worldwide by Monsanto has long been suspected of causing cancer. A California court has just awarded more than $2 billion in damages to a couple who had claimed that their use of the pesticide caused them to develop non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma . Bayer’s share price halved last year, and the consequences are already making themselves felt in the company itself: Around 12,000 jobs worldwide are to be cut in the next few years, a considerable proportion of them in Germany. CEO Werner Baumann, who pushed for the merger, is coming under increasing pressure. Voicing criticism, a majority of shareholders voted against absolving Baumann and other managers of their responsibility in the merger. Bayer is in the midst of its greatest crisis.
The film traces the effects of the merger and investigates potential new health hazards emanating from glyphosate. How has Monsanto tried in the past to influence politicians, scientists and public opinion? Did the Americans actually play down or ignore the dangers? And does Bayer really distance itself from these practices?
Solving the Mystery of Missing Ocean Plastic
There is a vast difference between the several hundreds of thousands of tons of floating plastic in the ocean and the millions of tons entering annually. By creating models for the path of ocean plastic, it was observed that most river emissions are likely being filtered by coastlines and beaches, with a small fraction going offshore. This small fraction turns out to be relatively old and likely not degrading very quickly – thus, showing persistence. This new understanding highlights the importance of both source reduction and cleanup of legacy ocean plastic.