From: Sara Scoles [sara_scoles@hotmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, February 15, 2001 3:35 PM
To: Food and Drug Administration
Subject: Docket # 00N-1396 and #00D-1598


Food and Drug Administration ,

I am writing because I am extremely concerned that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has proposed regulations that still fail to require labels or safety tests on genetically
engineered (GE) food. Labels on GE foods are required in Japan, Russia, and throughout Europe, yet your new proposal continues to deny Americans the right to know what is in our food.

Labels must be required to protect the public from potential health effects that could only be traced if GE foods can be
identified.  Unfortunately, the FDA's "voluntary labeling" guidelines will
leave thousands of unlabeled GE foods on our supermarket shelves. Furthermore, the agency's proposed rule only requires companies to notify FDA when bringing GE foods to market, but it fails to require any safety testing.

Doctors and scientists have warned about the potential for GE foods to trigger dangerous allergies, change the nutritional value of foods, and cause irreversible harm to the environment. The FDA appears to be playing politics with our food, while disregarding science-based precautions that other countries have implemented.

Perhaps most importantly, consumers have a right to know what they are eating and to choose what products they wish to eat.  The ability to make this choice depends on accurate product labels.

I urge you to reconsider your proposal and insure that GE foods are subject to pre-market testing and labeling.  Americans deserve the same protections in our food source as the rest of the world. 


Sara Scoles
218 N. Douglas Ave.
Springfield, IL 62702
sara_scoles@hotmail.com