From: Lynda Connor [lyndalive@earthlink.net]
Sent: Saturday, March 24, 2001 3:41 PM
To: fdadockets@oc.fda.gov
Subject: "Docket 00N-1396 & Docket 00D-1598" 


Dear FDA:

I am most concerned that despite overwhelming consumer demand, you continue to
put our health and our environment at risk and deprive people of the right to know 
or choose what they are eating.  Your proposed rules:
 
* Do not mandate pre-market safety testing
* Do not require pre-market environmental review
* Do not mandate labeling of GE foods
* Restrict voluntary labeling of non-GE foods
* Require merely a letter of notification prior to 
  marketing GE foods
* Fail to ensure public access to adequate information 
  for independent review.
 

  It is essential to have mandatory pre-market comprehensive 
  environmental review, because 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.

*Your rules 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.

Thank you for your attention.
 
Sincerely,
 
Lynda T. Connor