From: pratishakya@yahoo.com
Sent: Saturday, March 24, 2001 7:01 AM
To: fdadockets@oc.fda.gov
Subject: Proposed GE food rules must be strengthened

FDA Commissioner
Docket No. OON-1396 / OOD-1598
FDA Dockets Management Branch (HFA-305)
Food and Drug Administration
5360 Fishers Lane, Room 1061
Rockville, MD 20852

March 21, 2001

Honorable Commissioner:

I am writing to express my strong opposition to the FDA's proposed rule and
guidance on genetically engineered (GE) foods.  The agency's voluntary
labeling and notification proposals are totally inadequate to protect human
health, our environment, and my right to know what I'm eating.  European
nations have taken a much more responsible position by requiring complete
disclosure.  Pressure from large corporations who stand to profit from an
unsuspecting public should not be allowed to sway the development of
responsible public policy by our government.

I fully support the following:

* The FDA must require mandatory pre-market comprehensive
   environmental review. Unlike conventional pollutants,
   where a given amount of pollutant causes a limited amount
   of damage, a small number of mutant genes could have a
   population explosion and reproduce forever, causing
   unlimited and irreparable damage.

* The FDA must require mandatory pre-market long-term health
   testing. GE products could be toxic, cause allergic
   responses, have lower nutritional value, and compromise
   immune responses in consumers.

* The FDA must require mandatory labeling of GE products.
   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
   would be deprived of the critical knowledge needed to hold
   food producers liable should any of these novel products
   be hazardous.

* The FDA must end its cozy relationship with the industries
   it purports to be regulating. People have been allowed to
   work for a biotech company, then work for the FDA writing the
   regulatory rules on that company's product, then go back to
   working for the company.

Thank you,

Sincerely
Gail Dalby