From: Susan Howe [suz23rd@yahoo.com]
Sent: Saturday, March 24, 2001 9:32 PM
To: fdadockets@oc.fda.gov
Subject: An Average American's Revised Request

To Whom it Concerns,

The following are my strongest desires regarding the
labeling of chemically engineered foods.  I would have
to say that if you asked anyone on the street "Are you
opposed to having the food you buy in the grocery
store Labeled if it is genetically engineered?"  I
doubt that many would respond, "NO!  I am absolutely
opposed to having the food I buy labeled if it is
genetically engineered!"  So, it would seem to me that
the only ones who WOULD be Opposed to the labeling of
food that is either genetically engineered or
irradiated are those that are genetically engineering
or irradiating the food!  This is an obvious
deduction.  So it would follow to ask, who are you
(FDA) most concerned with protecting and informing,
the Consumers, or the Producers?  

When you took your office was it to protect and inform
the consumers or to protect the producers.  You should
know that the average American (I consider myself to
be VERY Average) knows whose interest is most
considered when problems arise.  So, to say the least
it would be great if we, "The Average Consumer", could
have a little bit more trust in the Overseers of the
food we eat.

So, with that, the following is my most vigorous
requests:

* 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.
 
Sincerely,
Susan Howe

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