From: Kurt Kleinschnitz [kkleins@boone.net]
Sent: Monday, April 02, 2001 2:01 PM
To: fdadockets@oc.fda.gov
Subject: I oppose GE foods; I ask for labeling

Dear FDA,

I wanted to register my feelings about genetically engineered foods. My
training is as a physicist--I have my Ph.D. and am not a luddite.

I am extremely concerned about the threat I see in genetically engineered
foods. I believe the scientific community has not given a balanced
assessment on the subject. How I see it: Up to now the genetic material has
been modified only through the processes of breeding, through disease, and
through such mechanisms as cross-over. The process is very slow, and a
weeding out through survival mechanisms has occurred at each step. The DNA
in our body could be traced back, theoretically, to the very origin of life
on the planet itself, along with each change.

Then, suddenly, within a space of 15 years, an entirely new kind of genetic
mechanism has emerged. Genes are being passed around like party favors
between species that could never have exchanged genetic material. The
safeguards and weeding out are being bypassed.

Moreover, the means by which the genes are being inserted invariably
introduce unintentional modifications in addition to the intended changes.
There are two main mechanisms used to insert genetic materials--either a
gene gun, or a virus. In the case of the gene gun, the desired genetic
sequences are shot into the nucleus of cells haphazardly. Cells that survive
and show the desired traits are cultivated--but there is no way to check
what unintended changes have been resulted from the insertion process in
addition to the desired traits. In the case of the virus, the desired gene
sequence is inserted, but also the DNA of the virus as well. The scientists
doing the modification shrug away this detail--but they don't know the long
term effects of this virus DNA in the cell either.

DNA is the very basis of all life. When we modify the DNA without
safeguards, we put at risk all life on the planet.

It is obvious that there is a great deal we do not understand about DNA
today. I think it is not good to proceed blithely along without giving all
of this very serious consideration.

Moreover, the US is not the only place genetic engineering is occurring. I
shudder to think what was reported about genetic manipulation in Cuba over
the past few years, where fish from the sea are taken, extra growth hormone
genes inserted, and then the fish released back to the sea again. If the US
doesn't take genetic engineering seriously, it sends a very very very
unfortunate signal to the rest of the world.

I am of the opinion that the voices in the scientific community promoting
genetic engineering are those same people with financial stakes in the
field. I do not think we are getting a balanced discussion on the subject.

In closing, I strongly recommend that the FDA at a minimum require labeling
of genetically engineered foods so the consumer themselves can make a
choice. I would much rather see a moratorium on the development and sale of
any genetically engineered foods for a decade until the story gets clear. I
myself would NEVER choose to use a genetically engineered food. I see that
the executives of Monsanto in the UK have also made a rule that there should
be no genetically engineered foods in their cafeteria. I think that says a
lot.

Sincerely,

Kurt Kleinschnitz, Ph.D.