From: Kathryn Hoffman-Rankin [khoffman@iland.net]
Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2001 3:12 PM
To: Food and Drug Administration
Subject: Docket # 00N-1396 and #00D-1598


Food and Drug Administration ,

As a full-time mother, I am sickened and outraged that I don't TRULY KNOW WHAT IS IN THE FOOD I FEED MY BABY AND CHILDREN!!!!  As a biologist, I am convinced we do not truly know the long-term health impacts of genetically-altered foods.

I am xtremely 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, yet FDA?s "voluntary abeling" 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. FDA appears to be playing politics with our food, disregarding science-based precautions that other ountries have implemented.

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


Kathryn Hoffman-Rankin
69 SW 120
Warrensburg, MO 64093
USA
khoffman@iland.net