Audio | Socio-ecological Transformation, Southern Africa, Food Sovereignty “Double Standards and Hazardous Pesticides from Bayer and BASF”

“Double Standards and Hazardous Pesticides from Bayer and BASF”

An audio feature by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, INKOTA-netzwerk and PAN Germany on double standards in the international trade of pesticides and pesticide active ingredients

The two German agrochemical giants Bayer and BASF are deeply involved in the international trade of highly hazardous pesticides and the active ingredients used in pesticides. Double standards enable the corporations to market their pesticides and active ingredients in the global South, even if they are no longer approved, or even banned, in the EU for health or environmental reasons. Glufosinate, spirodiclofen and (beta-)cyfluthrin—complicated names conceal concrete dangers for people who are exposed to these chemicals through agricultural use.

The audio feature takes us on a journey through the pesticide jungle and repeatedly raises the question of responsibility for the global problem of pesticide poisoning. Through impressive contributions from activists from South Africa and Mexico, the devastating effects in both countries become tangible.

The audio feature is based on the studies Toxic Exports (2019), Hazardous Pesticides from Bayer and BASF (2020), and Double Standards and Hazardous Pesticides from Bayer and BASF (2021).


Produced by Studio Lärm with Colette Solomon (Women on Farms, South Africa), Jan Urhahn (Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, Germany), Peter Clausing (PAN Germany), Simphiwe Data (Khanyisa, South Africa), Ermilio Alonso und Leydy Pech (both are members of the Maya community collective in Hopelchén on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico), Neky (not her real name, Mexico), and Wiebke Beushausen (INKOTA-netzwerk, Germany).