From: Anthony Boutard [aboutard@orednet.org]
Sent: Friday, March 30, 2001 10:25 AM
To: fdadockets@oc.fda.gov
Subject: Docket 00N-1396 & Docket 00D-1598

Docket 00N-1396 & Docket 00D-1598
Dockets Management Branch (HFA-305)
Food and Drug Administration
5630 Fishers Lane, Room 1061
Rockville, MD 20852

Please accept the following comment on the above referenced dockets.

Require labelling of genetically engineered foods.   From the seed house to
the market, labelling is essential.   Farmers and consumers should know
what they are buying.  If, as the proponents of genetic engineering argue,
there are substantial benefits from such foods, there should be no
resistance to the clear labelling of foods from those sources.  Please give
the consumers the ability to decide.

It is unfortunate that the Food and Drug Administration expects to be
notified of foods produced from genetically modified organisms, but
consumers, the people who buy and eat those foods, are not notified.   It
is wrong to withold this information from the consumer at the time of
purchase.

Please reevaluate your proposed rules and require labelling of foods
containing genetically modified organisms.

Thank you,

Anthony Boutard
P.O. Box 295
Gatson, OR 97119