Dow-DuPont Merger: Perpetuating GMOs, Squeezing Farmers and Consumers?

AP is reporting: "Dow Chemical and the DuPont Co. announced Friday that they are merging in a $130 billion chemical industry megadeal.

"The merger would combine two companies that sell agricultural products to millions of farmers around the world, and make a variety of chemicals for consumer and industrial products ranging from electronics, automobiles, and household goods to building materials and safety equipment.

"The two companies will form DowDuPont, then separate into three independent publicly traded companies focused on agriculture, material science and specialty products."

The following analysts are available for interviews:

WENONAH HAUTER, via Patty Lovera, plovera at fwwatch.org, @foodandwater
Hauter is the founder and executive director of Food & Water Watch and the author of Foodopoly: The Battle Over the Future of Food and Farming in America. She said today: "Just a handful of large chemical companies including Dow and DuPont already control most of the seed supply used to grow crops like corn and soybeans, as well as the herbicides that genetically engineered seeds are designed to be grown with. Any merger that consolidates this market into fewer hands will give farmers fewer choices and put them at even more economic disadvantage. And it will make it harder for agriculture to get off the GMO-chemical treadmill that just keeps increasing in speed. The Department of Justice needs to block this merger to prevent the further corporate control of the basic building blocks of the food supply."

DIANA MOSS, dmoss at antitrustinstitute.org, @antitrustinst
Moss is president of the American Antitrust Institute. She said today: "Any merger on the agricultural inputs side of DuPont and Dow will get antitrust scrutiny. Some of the markets for biotech and seeds are highly concentrated, which has been driven by Monsanto having made so many acquisitions in the past. If you put a new merger in the this mix, it's going to raise concerns about leaving only two or maybe three firms. That's a market landscape that doesn't promote competition, entry, and innovation. Farmers could be squeezed even more and consumers could pay higher prices."