The Global GMO Free Coalition (GGFC) welcomes the launch of the largest ever study on GMO and pesticide safety – Factor GMO.

Organic Consumers Association (OCA) is a member of the coalition and Ronnie Cummins, international director, OCA and its Mexico affiliate Via Organica, and member of the GGFC steering committee, said for years consumers have been exposed to Monsanto’s Roundup through multiple channels, including the pollution of groundwater that results from the planting of millions of acres of Roundup-resistant corn and soy crops.

“Last year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency again ruled in favor of Monsanto when the agency approved the allowance of higher levels of glyphosate, the key ingredient in Roundup, on fruits and vegetables sold for human consumption,” Cummins said. “We fully support this unprecedented study which we believe will provide, once and for all, irrefutable scientific evidence that Roundup should be banned.”

Factor GMO will include three arms: carcinogenicity, toxicity and multi-generational. These arms will give clear information on the health impacts of the Roundup Ready GM maize variety being studied and the glyphosate herbicide with which it is grown.

Glyphosate-based herbicides are the most widely used pesticides in the world. Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide is just one of these glyphosate-based herbicides and accounts for 20 percent of Monsanto’s net profits every year. Factor GMO will provide a clear idea of what level of harm glyphosate-based herbicides cause to human health and will also identify whether Roundup (which includes glyphosate and other ingredients) is more harmful to human health than glyphosate on its own.

The GGFC is urging governments and regulatory authorities worldwide to use the precautionary principle regarding GM crops and glyphosate/Roundup until the results of this comprehensive study are released over the next three years. Any other decision by regulatory authorities will leave them open to future accusations of endangering public health based on a lack of comprehensive evidence on the safety of GM crops and their associated pesticides.

Factor GMO announced at its launch that it will accept funds from all sources except the biotech industry. It is for this reason that the GGFC is launching a worldwide fundraising campaign starting today and lasting until April 2015. The GGFC aims to help Factor GMO to raise the required ­$3 million before April 2015 ­ to include the full multi-generational arm needed to identify whether the GM maize variety studied and/or glyphosate and Roundup cause infertility or birth defects.

To help fund the research or for full details of the Factor GMO study, visit the www.factor.gmo.com/en/ or for more information on Global GMO Free Coalition, visit www.gmofreeglobal.org.