From: Center for Food Safety [action@foodsafetynow.org] Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2001 2:28 PM 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, 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. 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. Your proposed rules ignore serious concerns, and appear to be a decision made to convenience industry 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. One area of particular concern to me is that of genetically engineering seeds for STERILITY in order to protect "patented seeds" thus requiring future re-purchase of seeds from the selling company year after year. I suggest to you that bio-diversity by Mother Nature helps to insure that the plants in question -- OUR FOOD SUPPLY -- stay current with changing climatic conditions of our world's weather! Consider for a moment, years from now, what would happen to your children's and grandchildren's food supply should these genetically engineered seeds become the "standard" choice for planting. If there were to be a failure in growth of the GE seeds because of weather conditions, some fungal or other infection, or just lack of understanding in third world countries that the seeds will not reproduce viable seeds for planting the next year! Leave Mother Nature alone to evolve her own FERTILE seeds for natural replanting year after year by wind, animal droppings, etc. Remember, we are what we eat ... but if nothing grows what does that make us? ... nothing/nada/defunct/dead??? And then will we become followers of the dinosaurs by our own stupidity??? REQUIRE labels for GE foods so we can have the FREEDOM to chose for ourselves! And by law FORBID any company from engineering in a death sentence to the second generation of the seeds they produce/provide our world's food providers! Sincerely, Diane S. Wiswall ... housewife, mother, biology minor, Spanish major, and VOTER Diane Wiswall 5515 Rhodes Avenue St. Louis, MO, 63109 CC: The President Vice President Dick Cheney FDA Dockets Management [Docket No. 00N-1396] Senator Christopher S. Bond Senator Jean Carnahan Representative William L. (Bill) Clay, Jr. Representative Richard A. GephardtFDA 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