From: Flashdg908@aol.com
Sent: Sunday, March 25, 2001 9:15 AM
To: fdadockets@oc.fda.gov
Subject: Docket 00N-1396 & Docket 00D-1598
To the regulation makers at the FDA: 

It has come to my attention that you are considering allowing genetically 
engineered foods to be sold to the public without their knowledge.  These 
foods have not been tested adequately to verify their safety.  Your 
organization currently holds a very good reputation for maintaining the 
safety of the foods (and drugs) sold to the general public.  Allowing these 
foods into the food chain without complete testing could be devastating.  As 
a Registered Nurse, I see increases of new and strange cancers and diseases 
every day, I can't help but think it is because of all the "strange new 
products" we are exposed to that our parents and grandparents never even 
dreamed of.  YOU are the governing body that can protect us.  It is YOUR 
responsibility to at least give us the OPTION of CHOOSING NOT TO CONSUME THSE 
PRODUCTS BY FORCING COMPANIES WHO SELL GENETICALLY ENGINEERED PRODUCTS TO 
LABEL THEM AS SUCH.  The labeling should be large and prominent as I don't 
think I should have to double or triple my time in the supermarket reading 
the fine print on every item I pick up.   

This subject is especially important to me because I have already felt it's 
effect.  I couldn't understand why I got a headache everytime I ate Taco 
Bell's shells...then the news report answered my question... Taco Bell was 
using genetically engineered foods (corn) to make the shells.  Genetically 
engineered corn that was meant for animal consumption... I can't say that I 
condone feeding this to animals either as they (and their possibly altered 
chromosomes) become a part of the food chain as well.  The other concern is 
that these altered foods might become a part of the food I purchase for my 
Basset Hound.  He is a member of my family and I do not want him subjected to 
products that may be unsafe to him either. 

I am asking you to please INSIST THAT THE NEW RULES: 

REQUIRE mandatory pre-market safety testing 
REQUIRE pre-market environmental review 
REQUIRE mandatory labeling of GE foods 
REQUIRE voluntary labeling of non-GE foods 
REQUIRE MUCH MORE THAN a mere letter of notification prior to the 
 marketing of a GE food  FULL AND COMPLETE TESTING MUST BE COMPLETED 
REQUIRE  public access to adequate information for independent review 
REMEMBER, WHEN NEW REGULATIONS are supported by industry and opposed by 
consumer groups THEY PROBABLY ARE FLAWED AND UNSAFE. 

YOUR REPUTATION OF BEING OUR (the citizens of the USA) PROTECTOR.  YOU ARE 
THE WATCHDOG.  YOU ARE THE ONLY BARRIER BETWEEN BIG BUSINESS TAKING ADVANTAGE 
OF THE AMERICAN CONSUMER.  There are many reasons it is important you take 
these steps NOW.  If these products are allowed into the food chain, in years 
to come when YOUR babies are getting cancers/neurological diseases never 
before seen, when YOUR children are stricken with fatal or neurological 
paralysing diseases IT WILL BE TOO LATE!!!  Saying you're sorry and changing 
the laws THEN is of severely limited value.  REMEMBER HIV!  If testing of 
blood had started at the first incling, many would be alive today who have 
long since DIED BECAUSE NO ONE WOULD STAND UP AND SAY ***NO*** WHEN THEY HAD 
A CHANCE. 

* 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 am asking this for myself, my family, my community, and my country (which 
includes YOU, your family, your community).  Look beyond the greed and "quick 
buck",  look beyond what is "easy"... do the right thing BECAUSE IT IS THE 
RIGHT THING TO DO.  Write the laws to protect YOUR CHILDREN and THEIR 
CHILDREN.  Keep the foodstuffs in America SAFE. 

Thanks 
Dona Kare-Kowalski