From: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Saturday, March 24, 2001 9:58 AM
To: 'fdadockets@oc.fda.gov'
Subject: Docket 00N-1396 & Docket 00D-1598

RE:  Docket 00N-1396 & Docket 00D-1598
Dear Dockets Management Branch at the Food and Drug Administration:
As a consumer it is my obligation to express my concern over two of  your
recent dockets addressing genetically engineering products.  In a sentence,
my message can be summarized as follows:  GENETICALLY ENGINEERED PRODUCTS
MUST BE LABELED AND TESTED FOR SAFETY!  My colleagues and I feel very
strongly about this for several reasons which I've taken the time to list
below.
* 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. Ninety-two percent of FDA advisory
committee meetings had at least one conflict of interest.
I represent a large community of professionals with similar views on this
subject.  We expect you will receive numerous letters of concern on this
topic and we hope that the FDA listens to these concerns.  Please look at
the research carefully and consider the disastrous consequences for not
taking this matter seriously.
Sincerely,

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The College of William and Mary
Graduate School of Business 
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