From: Michael Polidori [michael0156@earthlink.net] Sent: Saturday, April 07, 2001 5:09 AM Subject: Deaths and permanent disability, genetic engineering is implicated...Surprised? To the Heads of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), To all mothers and fathers concerned for the health and development of their children, To all of my friends and acquaintances, There are dramatic changes happening to our food and the FDA and some corporations don't want us to know what it may do to us and our children. If you have the patience to read the info at the web sites listed below you will see what has already happened and what is planned for our future. Some of the food we eat has been changed to grow pesticide in every part of the plant, some have genes from different life forms (bacteria, virus, animals), some have been changed to be anti-biotic or herbicide resistant. While these gene altered foods have been approved for us to eat, NONE have been proved safe for eating. None have been proved safe for eating!! None have been proved safe for eating!!!! The changes have been going on since the early 1980's and your informed voices are needed to stop the unsafe release of altered plants and animals into the environment. I'm not interested in stopping the research, I just don't want to be part of the experiment. If you agree with me after reading this letter, send it to all of your friends and families by copying and pasting it into emails (forwarding the email changes it, eventually making it difficult to read). The FDA was sued by a coalition of groups and a number of notable scientists (http://www.bio-integrity.org/FDADeception.html) to obtain mandatory safety testing and labeling of all genetically engineered (GE) foods. The court recently decided favoring the FDA and this shows how badly the agency and the judge are out of touch with protecting the public. Scientists at the FDA warned of potential hazards associated with genetic alteration of plants and animals. The judge in this case admitted that FDA scientists are there to advise on issues of public health and safety. Yet the judge says that it is legal for the head of the FDA to ignore this research and advice. Legal, but unreasonable. It should be a crime for the head of the FDA to ignore the warnings of her own scientists regarding the dangers that genetically adulterated foods pose for the public. I know that this letter means little to the FDA and the other government agencies manipulated into approving these foods, allowing DNA adulteration for profit. The heads of these agencies appear not to care how many lives will be adversely affected by the decision to allow genetic alteration of the foods we eat. This is a sad state of affairs. Do they realize that genetically altered soy is being given to our infants in soy-based formula?!?! John Block, former Secretary of Agriculture, understands why Gerber and Heinz have stated they will not use GMOs in their baby food products (http://www.fdi.org/newsrm/000307fritolay.htm). Why don't the current heads of the FDA, EPA or the USDA understand and support this?! (John Block is a spokesman FOR the bio-tech industry, but has stated he understands the Heinz/Gerber decision not to put gene altered plants and animals into baby food ... thanks John!!) Do the leaders of the regulatory agencies realize that slight alterations in the chemical makeup of foods may have disastrous interactions with medications, or may further damage impaired immune systems, or contribute to stress that organs may be undergoing for treatment of other ailments, or may directly poison perfectly healthy individuals (as happened to Robin Burke http://www.angelfire.com/ga3/ems2hope/ and thousands of others)?!?!? The head of the FDA has taken it upon herself to favor the counsel of large multinational corporations against the scientists/advisors that work for her. WHY?!?! The revolving jobs door between many federal regulatory positions and the industries that control them is a large part of the problem. You can see evidence of this in the USDA page on past Secretaries of Agriculture http://www.usda.gov/history/pastsec.htm . After their tenure as SOA Democrats usually return to private life, Republicans usually go on to "jobs" in corporations regulated by the very agencies they headed. The FDA must impose a moratorium on the continued release of gene altered foods until they are PROVEN safe. Stating that there is no evidence that they cause harm is not enough. It would make as much sense to say there is no evidence they are safe. "No evidence" is exactly that ... no evidence, nothing, nada, zilch. It is not proof of safety, it is not proof of harm, it is simply "no evidence". A moratorium must be imposed until we have sound, independent, long-term testing proving the safety of these foods. There is a mountain of circumstantial evidence to show that we can expect harmful effects from the changes we are causing in our food (Please read info at the Alliance for Bio-Integrity - http://www.biointegrity.org/ and from Molecular Biologist John Fagan - http://www.natural-law.ca/genetic/JohnFaganArticles.html) The most dire evidence is where 50 people were poisoned to death and thousands more sickened incurably for life ---> http://www.nemsn.org/ . I have spoken with three people (Sharon, Joe and Robin) who have Eosinophilia Myalgia Syndrome, EMS, the name given to the poisoning caused by ingesting an ordinary food supplement produced by genetically engineered bacteria. Labeling is not the sole answer to this problem. The FDA and the Bio-tech industry have worked together for more than 15 years to ensure that most of our food is contaminated. Labeling will show how thorough the contamination has become, but will not address the issue of safety. Labeling is a parallel step that must be taken with a moratorium on the continued release of these foods into the environment and onto our dinner plates. We must stop growing and distributing these foods until they are PROVED safe. The Bio-tech organizations are paying for commercials saying they are concerned with improving our lives or the nutrition of the poor and hungry through these changes to our food. This is not true. They want to own the food that is grown and get paid whenever anyone grows "their" patented food. They are paid for for every acre, every farm, every year their patented crop is grown. Farmers are not permitted to use seed from the crop they have grown without paying again for the right to plant it. Read how Monsanto sued a Canadian farmer, saying he was illegally growing Monsanto's canola plant http://www.percyschmeiser.com/. Monsanto claimed it didn't matter if the canola appeared on his farm from wind blown pollen or seed falling off of a truck. The judge agreed, deciding in Monsanto's favor, further stating that it didn't matter whether or not Mr. Schmeiser knew the crop was growing on his land. The court acknowledged that the farmer didn't gain any benefit from the crop yet decided that he owed Monsanto $15,000 in technology fees and and all of the profit from the canola grown on his land, ($105,000, plus interest) and he was also assessed Monsanto's litigation costs. Monsanto's patent on this canola is good for 17 years! Percy Schmeiser is 70 years old and has farmed all of his life, growing and cultivating his own variety of canola for 40 years. He was told he must destroy all of his saved seed and start again by purchasing new seed. He has done this, and his new crop is already contaminated with Monsanto's canola. This legal thuggery won't stop unless we join together and tell our representatives to make the necessary changes in the regulatory agencies. Please see the links below and write to the agencies, your congressional representatives and other elected officials, state and federal. Without your voices, this will not stop until all of our food is owned and tampered with by corporate wealth. Sincerely, Michael Polidori PO Box 832, Hope Mills, NC 28348 9104243693 / 9104266224 Become active in this fight against gene altered crops, crops with genes from bacteria, virus, and animals forced into them. Crops with unknown changes created in them that no one is testing for. Food that we and our children eat, that is probably harmful to many of us. Food is supposed to be a basic, simple, sustaining substance. Corporations are trying to own all food outright and be able to change what is in it thereby altering the nutrition, without the hand of God, good people, or government interfering. Animal and plant life are now being patented. Read the information at the web sites I have provided in the above letter. Become informed, and write to the FDA, the EPA and the USDA calling for a moratorium on the commercial growing of all gene altered foods, telling them you want long-term independent testing to PROVE the safety of these foods, and ask them to require strict labeling requirements for any of these never-before-seen substances that are released into our food supply. Here are the addresses to write. Tell these people that you want a moratorium on the commercial release of gene altered plants and animals, that you want PROOF of safety through long-term independent testing, that you want strict labeling on any altered plants or animals approved for commercial release. The FDA --- fdadockets@oc.fda.gov Subject - Docket 00N-1396 & Docket 00D-1598 The EPA --- public-access@epa.gov Subject - Stop approving gene altered plants that contain pesticides The USDA --- anpr@gipsadc.usda.gov Subject - Federal Register docket number FGIS-2000-001a Below find the best source of info on the web for finding your elected officials, any state or county in the USA. Project Vote Smart http://www.vote-smart.org/ (They need our financial support!!! Once you see the site you will be amazed!!) Find your elected officials, tell them what you think of genetically engineered foods President --- http://www.vote-smart.org/vote-smart/data.phtml?dtype=P&style= Congress --- http://www.vote-smart.org/vote-smart/data.phtml?dtype=C&style= Governors --- http://www.vote-smart.org/vote-smart/data.phtml?dtype=G&style= State Congress --- http://www.vote-smart.org/vote-smart/data.phtml?dtype=S&style= Local Elected Officials (by county) --- http://www.vote-smart.org/vote-smart/local.phtml?style=