From: jbinder@ruraltel.net
Sent: Monday, March 12, 2001 10:53 PM
To: fdadockets@oc.fda.gov
Subject: What's in your food? (FDA Dockets 00N-1396 and 00D-1598)


Dear Corporate and Government Leaders,

Neither government nor industry is protecting Americans from the risks posed to human health and the environment by genetically engineered (GE) foods. The Food and Drug Administration's "new" policy on GE foods (proposed January 18, 2001) continues to let the biotech industry regulate itself; it fails to require the long-term, pre-market safety testing demanded by independent experts. The "voluntary labeling" guidelines are a wholly inadequate response to the overwhelming public support for mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods. Therefore, I urge you to keep all genetically engineered ingredients and crops off the market unless:

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 accountable for any harms they may cause.


I am especially concerned that so many of the bio-engineered foods are non-self-replicating and that we would all be at risk from the inability to grow our own food from infertile hybrid seed should we wish to do so. It is of equal concern thatif these foods became our major food source that we would be at the mercy of producers to pay whatever they would demand or have to eat what they desire to feed us, if we have not maintained reproducible food as a viable alternative.


Sincerely

Jean Binder
P.O. box 21
Ellis, Kansas 67637