From: ELYork@aol.com
Sent: Monday, March 26, 2001 12:22 PM
To: fdadockets@oc.fda.gov
Subject: Docket 00N-1396 & Docket 00D-1598

Food and Drug Administration
Re:     Docket 00N-1396
          Docket 00D-1598

Your proposed "regulations" for GE foods are not regulations at all. They are 
just a rubber stamp of what the biotech and agribusiness industries want.

Consumers want a CHOICE. We want to be able to choose whether we eat ge 
modified foods. We want to know they are safe. We want to know the 
environment will not be irreparably harmed. To that end, it is imperative 
that the FDA:

    ·require mandatory labeling of all genetically modified foods. Every poll 
conducted has indicated an overwhelming desire (80% to 95%) by Americans for 
mandatory labeling of ge foods. We want a choice! How did it become the job 
of the FDA to decide whether I put ge-modified food on my table!

    · require mandatory pre-market, comprehensive environmental review. 
Unlike conventional pollutants,  where a given amount of pollutant causes a 
specific amount of damage, a small number of mutant genes could have a  
population explosion and reproduce forever, causing  unlimited and 
irreparable damage.

    · require mandatory long-term, pre-market health testing. GE products 
could be -- probably are -- toxic, cause allergic responses, have lower 
nutritional value, and compromise immune responses in consumers.

Consumers would also like to see the FDA start protecting us again, instead 
of promoting the products of huge industries who put big money in its pocket. 
The conflict of interest in your organization is appalling! If this is how 
the FDA is to work, it would be better for it to just go away completely! 
(You could all gets jobs at Monsanto and Dupont . . . !)

Esther L. York
An Angry Consumer