From: Sara Madera [madera@texas.net]
Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2001 9:42 PM
To: fdadockets@oc.fda.gov
Subject: Genetically engineered food

Dear FDA Commissioner,

The proposed Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations fail to
require labels or safety tests on genetically engineered (GE) food. The
new rules continue to deny  Americans the fundamental right to know what

is in our food, while protecting the economic interests of biotech
corporations.

Labeling GE foods would protect the public from potential hazardous
health effects such as food allergies and toxicity that can only be
traced if GE foods can be identified. By refusing to require both
labeling and mandatory pre-market safety testing of foods, the FDA puts
consumers' health at risk, ignores possible environmental hazards, and
fails to satisfy the overwhelming desire of American consumers to
exercise freedom of choice in the marketplace.

It is not enough to require that firms simply notify you of their intent

to market a food produced with genetic engineering; this is no
substitute for thorough pre-market safety testing. The proposed
"voluntary labeling" guidelines will do nothing to inform consumers of
the presence of genitally engineered ingredients in their food, because
biotech companies and food manufacturers have vehemently opposed
labeling in the past and will not voluntarily label their foods in the
future.

Therefore, I urge you to keep all genetically engineered ingredients and

crops off the market unless or until:

    1) Independent safety testing demonstrates they have no harmful
effects on  human health or the environment;

    2)They are labeled to ensure consumers' right-to-know; and

    3) The biotechnology corporations that produce them are held
responsible for any harms they may cause.

Growing numbers of responsible and informed farmers, scientists and
concerned citizens disagree with genetic engineering, citing new hazards

to our health and the environment. Blessed with the potential to help
feed ourselves and a hungry world with wholesome foods from fertile
soils, we are instead forging ahead with dangerous biotechnologies that
much of the developed world and now even China are rejecting,.  The New
England Journal of Medicine has warned that " the allergenic potential
of these newly introduced microbial proteins is uncertain, unpredictable

and untestable. "  GE foods may set off allergies, increase cancer
risks, produce antibiotic-resistant pathogens, damage food quality, and
produce dangerous toxins.  Environmental hazards include increased use
of toxic pesticides, damage to soil fertility, genetic pollution of
adjoining farmlands, harm to Monarch butterflies and beneficial insects
such as ladybugs, and the creation of "superpests",  "superweeds," and
virulent new plant viruses.  Consumer polls show that 80-95% of
Americans want genetically engineered food to be labeled. It is
imperative for the health of our nation now and in the future, for the
continued strength of our nation over generations to come, that you
courageously take the major step of requiring stringent labeling and
full disclosure. Such action requires the courage of conviction and an
open mind unfettered by financial influence, but to do any less is to
condemn millions to unknown and dangerous consequences.

It amazes me that when blessed with such abundance, our nation is
championing a process so dangerous and destructive, placing perceived
profit over the health and welfare of our people and the sustainability
of the environment that ultimately sustains us all.

Sincerely,

Mark Madera