From: Felicia Berry [berryfm@earthlink.net]
Sent: Saturday, March 24, 2001 9:44 AM
To: fdadockets@oc.fda.gov
Subject: Docket 00N-1396 & Docket 00D-1598

To whom it may concern,

I am writing in opposition of GE products.  I grow most of my family's food,
but we do rely on products from other sources.  I don't want my family
subjected to GE products, and I especially want to know when a product
contains them with appropriate labeling!  Please consider the following
suggestions:

 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.

Thank you for your consideration.

Peter and Felicia Berry
494 Fairview Rd.
Asheville, NC  28803