From: halterb@bintech.net
Sent: Monday, February 12, 2001 5:20 PM
To: fdadockets@oc.fda.gov
Subject: What's in your food? (FDA Dockets 00N-1396 and 00D-1598)


Dear Corporate and Government Leaders,

Genetically engineered food ingredients or crops should not be allowed on the market until: 

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

2) They are labeled to ensure the consumer's right-to-know, and 

3) The biotechnology corporations that manufacture them are held responsible for any harm.

I was one of those people that could eat anything. Starting 4 years ago I have had progressively more severe hive attacks after eating food. This culminated in anaphylactic shock on 3/2000 from eating foods I have eaten my whole life. I can no longer eat at restaurants or at friends or my family's houses. I am fine, as long as I eat minimally or non-processed organic certified foods. 

Allergists are not much help. With out clear labeling of genetically engineered components or even other ingredients under the FDA radar limits it is impossible to identify root allergens.

At this point I avoid any processed food, because one bite could mean my death. What scares me even more is the Taco Bell case where the farmers supposedly didn't know they had been sold genetically engineered seeds. How do I really  know that "organic" foods are not suspect too, since organic labeling is not uniformly defined either.


Sincerely

Binhita Halter