From: ira51@juno.com
Sent: Saturday, March 24, 2001 10:14 AM
To: fdadockets@oc.fda.gov
Subject: "Docket 00N-1396 & Docket 00D-1598"

Sirs;

On behalf of my extended family, and along with large segments of the
population, we feel very strongly about certain food products protocol:  
    

   GENETICALLY ENGINEERED PRODUCTS 
MUST BE LABELED AND TESTED FOR SAFETY!

* 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.

Respectfully,


Ira Wollen & Family		Arlyne Wollen
55 Knolls Crescent               P.O. Box 630303	
Bronx, NY 10463                   Spuyten Duyvil, NY  10463-9992