From: FUGELSANG, Tom [tom.fugelsang@plantronics.com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 13, 2001 11:30 AM
To: 'fdadockets@oc.fda.gov'
Subject: Ban (Or At Least Label) GMOs


Dear Commissioner,

The fact that genetically engineered foods are not labeled in our markets
today is outrageous.  The fact that boards such as yours, who are designed
to protect Americans and their interests in the very stuff of life, are
resisting the mandatory labeling of such new "science" is shameful.  

How can we be confident shoppers if we do not know what is in our food?
Look at the effects of StarLink corn getting into human food.  It was a
disaster.  People are not designed to handle such tinkering.  Biotech firms
should not even be altering or adding genes to foreign species.  This is not
scientific advancement.  This is a way to find cheaper means of production
so biotech companies "remain profitable" at the expense of the public.
Government agencies such as yours are often all too willing to bend over
backwards to protect any company that chants that manta.  

I beg you to make this small concession.  It is not a matter of unnecessary
regulations on small time farmers.  These are giant industries doing this to
us.  I do not want to be directly or indirectly exposed to anything harmful,
something certain administrations have not been all that concerned with.  If
your job is to protect us from harm in the food we eat and the drugs we
take, you should declare a moratorium on these foods, not just a lousy
label, until definitive testing has proven these foods are safe for our
bodies and our environment.  

Do not be a tool of biotech companies.  Be a defender of the people.  That
is what your post is designed for.  Asians and Europeans have already taken
measures against GMOs.  If I am to believe we are this city on a hill, why
would I feel safer if I lived and ate in any other country?

 
Tom Fugelsang
PLANTRONICS, INC.
345 Encinal Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
831.458.7657
tom.fugelsang@plantronics.com