From: Center for Food Safety [action@foodsafetynow.org] Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2001 11:51 AM To: FDA Commissioner Cc: president@whitehouse.gov; vice.president@whitehouse.gov; fdadockets@oc.fda.gov; fdadockets@oc.fda.gov Subject: Oppose the New FDA Regulations on GE Foods! FDA Commissioner Dockets Management Branch (HFA 305) Food and Drug Administration 5630 Fisher's Lane, rm. 1061 Rockville, MD 20852 RE: Docket No. 00N-1396, and 00D-1598 Dear FDA Commissioner, I am outraged by your new policies on genetically engineered ("GE") foods. Despite overwhelming consumer demand, your agency still fails to require safety testing and mandatory labeling for GE foods. Your “notification” policy is an insult to consumers, and irresponsibly ignores strong scientific evidence of numerous potential health and environmental risks to GE foods. You should be aware that these foods could be toxic, could cause allergic responses, could have lower nutrition value, could compromise immune responses in consumers, and could cause irreparable damage to the environment. You should direct your attention to scientific reports that have already been published on the lasting damage some GE plants can do to the soil and surrounding environment. I am also greatly opposed to your new “voluntary labeling” policy, which denies consumers a basic right to know. Without mandatory labeling, neither consumers nor health professionals will know if an allergic or toxic reaction was the result of a genetically engineered food. Consumers will also be deprived of the critical knowledge they need to hold food producers liable should any of these novel foods prove hazardous. This policy is asinine. We are suppossed to be a free country, and comsumers are suppossed to "vote" for products by comparing them and purchasing what they like best. That is a democracy based on capitalism. But this is capitalism gone terribly awry. Someone is trying to sneak in GE foods past the public, whether they like it or not. We joked about or alluded to things like this happening in China and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. How can it be happening here? Your proposed rules ignore serious concerns, and appear to be a decision made to convenience industry - or a single corporation! - at the expense of public health and the environment. I will not accept your attempt to make me a guinea pig of these untested foods, and I trust you will take my concern along with the thousands of others into serious consideration. I appreciate you reading this letter. Please do not dismiss the health and welfare of the US citizenry. Sincerely, Thalia Schlossberg 1101 E 10th St. Bloomington, IN, 47405 CC: The President Vice President Dick Cheney FDA Dockets Management [Docket No. 00N-1396] Senator Richard G. Lugar Senator Evan Bayh Representative John N. HostettlerFDA Dockets Management [Docket No. 00D-1598] To the recipient -- this fax/email message has come to you via the Center for Food Safety web site -- a public tool for providing input on food safety issues. The user/site visitor had complete control over editing the content of this message. Thus, the opinions expressed in this message are not necessarily those of CFS or its parent organization, ICTA. Please contact CFS at (202)547-9359 or email office@centerforfoodsafety.org with any questions. Thank you. ___________________________________________________________________________ This letter was composed at www.foodsafetynow.org, a web site maintained by: The Center for Food Safety, 666 Pennsylvania Ave, SE, Suite 302 Washington, DC 20003 PH: (202)547-9359 Fax: (202)547-9429 Email: office@centerforfoodsafety.org web: www.centerforfoodsafety.org