From: Roy & Devon Pickett [roydev@signature-is.com]
Sent: Saturday, March 24, 2001 8:51 AM
To: fdadockets@oc.fda.gov
Subject: Docket 00N-1396 & Docket 00D-1598

I received an email yesterday that said the Food and Drug Administration is now accepting public comment genetically engineered (GE) food rules. Frankly, the FDA has failed to require health and ecological safety testing or mandatory labeling on these genetically engineered foods, and thus has put my health and my family's AND the environment at risk.  In the proposed rules, the FDA is depriving me and the rest of the American public of the right to know what's in the food that we eat.

Because I am concerned about this issue, I have made the switch, as much as possible, to foods that have been organically grown or prepared, and meats that have not been fed antibiotics.  As one of many people in the United States who suffers from severe allergies, it scares me to know that I could be ingesting something that I am extremely allergic to, but would never know untill it was too late because the FDA has not bothered to mandate labelling of genetically engineered ingredients.  

Your proposed rules

* Do not require mandatory pre-market safety testing 

* Do not require pre-market environmental review

* Do not require mandatory labeling of GE foods   

* Restrict voluntary labeling of non-GE foods 

* Require a mere letter of notification prior to the marketing of a GE food

* Fail to ensure public access to adequate information for independent review

For an organization that is supposed to be HELPING the American public and protecting the American public, for the FDA to follow through on this proposed rule is asinine and will do more long term damage to health and wellness than you think. I am also ashamed of the FDA for bowing down to industry and ignoring the concerns of consumer groups who are providing you with other scientific studies AND negative consumer response to the proposed rules.

As far as I am concerned, 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.  (This is my point from earlier.)  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. Ninety-two percent of FDA advisory committee meetings had at least one conflict of interest.

Please do what is truly in the interests of the American public and do not approve the rules as current written.  Re-write them to respond to the issues that have been mentioned and prevent many future health problems for our citizens.  After all, we can look back through history and see instancees where we should have been more cautious to begin with - for instance, with DDT.  Please be cautious - for our sake, and for our future's sake.

Mrs. D.K. Pickett
1 Sherwood Lane
Beaufort, SC 29902
(843)770-0556
H: roydev@signature-is.com