Cancer Risk from Farm Chemicals Highlights Need for GMO Labeling

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 20, 2015

Washington, D.C. – The national Just Label It campaign is calling on the Food and Drug Administration to require labeling of genetically modified foods (GMOs) in light of today’s announcement that glyphosate, the main ingredient in the Roundup herbicide widely used on GMO crops, is now considered a probable carcinogen by the U.N.’s International Agency for Research on Cancer.

“Our worst fears are now confirmed,” said Gary Hirshberg, board chair of the Just Label It campaign. “For 20 years we have been bombarding tens of millions of acres of U.S. cropland with a probable carcinogen. There is no stronger rationale for GMO labeling than today’s news.”

More than 1.4 million Americans have joined a petition urging FDA to require mandatory labeling.

The widespread adoption of GMO crops has led to a surge in the use of glyphosate, an herbicide designed to kills weeds but allow GMO plants to survive.

The JLI campaign today also urged Congress to reject legislation that would preempt state GMO labeling laws and restrict the FDA’s ability to mandate national GMO labeling requirements.