Bayer-Monsanto Deal Faces Deeper Scrutiny in Europe<br />“We need to ensure effective competition so that farmers can have access to innovative<br />products, better quality and also purchase products at competitive prices.”<br />Ms. Vestager said that many of the comments expressed concern about potential negative effects of Monsanto<br />and Bayer products, including risks to human health, food safety and consumer protection.<br />LONDON — European antitrust regulators opened an in-depth investigation on Tuesday into Bayer’s $56 billion deal for Monsanto, a transaction<br />that would create the world’s largest integrated pesticides and seeds company.<br />Bayer, a German chemicals multinational, announced last year<br />that it planned to buy Monsanto, its American agribusiness rival, but it was only this past June that it sought approval from the European authorities.<br />“Seeds and pesticide products are essential for farmers<br />and ultimately consumers,” Margrethe Vestager, the commissioner in charge of European competition policy, said on Tuesday in a news release.
