From: Center for Food Safety [action@foodsafetynow.org] Sent: Friday, March 30, 2001 2:39 PM To: FDA Commissioner Cc: president@whitehouse.gov; vice.president@whitehouse.gov; fdadockets@oc.fda.gov; fdadockets@oc.fda.gov Subject: Oppose the New FDA Regulations on GE Foods! FDA Commissioner Dockets Management Branch (HFA 305) Food and Drug Administration 5630 Fisher's Lane, rm. 1061 Rockville, MD 20852 RE: Docket No. 00N-1396, and 00D-1598 Dear FDA, Might I interest you in a bite of something good tasting, and yummy looking, but liable to damage your body and that of your children? Why not?? You are willing to offer it to me? I am outraged by your new policies on genetically engineered (GE)foods. Despite overwhelming consumer demand, your agency still fails to require safety testing and mandatory labeling for GE foods. Your “notification” policy is an insult to consumers, and irresponsibly ignores strong scientific evidence of numerous potential health and environmental risks to GE foods. You should be aware that these foods could be toxic, could cause allergic responses, could have lower nutrition value, could compromise immune responses in consumers, and could cause irreparable damage to the environment. I am also greatly opposed to your new “voluntary labeling” policy, which denies consumers a basic right to know. 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 will also be deprived of the critical knowledge they need to hold food producers liable should any of these novel foods prove hazardous. Your proposed rules ignore serious concerns, and appear to be a decision made to convenience industry at the expense of public health and the environment. I will not accept your attempt to make me a guinea pig of these untested foods, and I trust you will take my concern along with the thousands of others into serious consideration. Are you willing to eat these foods first for, say a trial period of five years, and to also feed your children and granchildren these risky foods for the same period of time?? Let's see you accept the same risk to which you, without concern for our country's health, want to expose us. How long will you put the well being (financial, that is) of industry above the interests of the very people that pay your salaries? I for one, am sick and tired of 'my' government (what a laugh!!) making its citizens its own personal whipping boy. Quit worshipping the almighty dollar and an inflated image of your personal value to the American people and do the right thing!! Sincerely, Sandi Vinson irate citizen and concerned mother. Sandi Vinson 6490 Looper Lake Dr. Flowery Branch, Ga, 30542 CC: The President Vice President Dick Cheney FDA Dockets Management [Docket No. 00N-1396] Senator Max Cleland Senator Zell Miller Representative Nathan DealFDA Dockets Management [Docket No. 00D-1598] To the recipient -- this fax/email message has come to you via the Center for Food Safety web site -- a public tool for providing input on food safety issues. The user/site visitor had complete control over editing the content of this message. Thus, the opinions expressed in this message are not necessarily those of CFS or its parent organization, ICTA. Please contact CFS at (202)547-9359 or email office@centerforfoodsafety.org with any questions. Thank you. ___________________________________________________________________________ This letter was composed at www.foodsafetynow.org, a web site maintained by: The Center for Food Safety, 666 Pennsylvania Ave, SE, Suite 302 Washington, DC 20003 PH: (202)547-9359 Fax: (202)547-9429 Email: office@centerforfoodsafety.org web: www.centerforfoodsafety.org