From: lia134 [lia134@wans.net]
Sent: Sunday, April 01, 2001 10:25 PM
To: fdadockets@oc.fda.gov
Subject: Mandatory testing and labeling of Genetically Engineered food




> To the FDA:
> I can't say this enough:
> GENETICALLY ENGINEERED PRODUCTS MUST BE LABELED!
>
>     I can't understand why, despite overwhelming consumer demand, the FDA
> has failed to require ecological safety testing or mandatory labeling of
> genetically engineered 'foods.'
>     You are putting our health and our environment at risk and you are
> depriving American citizens of the right to know or choose what we are
> eating.
>
> The FDA must:
>
> *require mandatory pre-market comprehensive environmental review. Unlike
> conventional pollutants, where a given amount of pollutant causes a
limited
> amount of damage, a small number of mutant genes could have a population
> explosion and reproduce forever, causing unlimited and irreparable damage.
>
> *require mandatory labeling of GE products.  Without mandatory labeling,
> neither consumers nor health professionals will know if an allergic or
toxic
> reaction was the result of a genetically engineered food. Consumers would
be
> deprived of the critical knowledge needed to hold food producers liable
> should any of these novel products be hazardous.
>
> *end your relationship with the industries you purport to be regulating.
> People have been allowed to work for a biotech company, then work for the
> FDA
> writing the regulatory rules on that company's product, then go back to
> working for the company.  According to my sources, Ninety-two percent of
FDA
> advisory committee meetings had at least one conflict of interest.  How
can
> you operate this way?  Have you no moral conscience?  We are talking about
> the health and safety of our one and only planet, and the children that
> inhabit it.
>
> Sincerely,
Leah Becker,   Boston, MA