From: OC EXECSEC
Sent: Saturday, April 07, 2001 8:03 AM
To: Dockets, FDA
Subject: FW: Docket # 00N-1396 and #00D-1598



> ----------
> From: 	Lydia Mortensen[SMTP:MORTS5@JUNO.COM]
> Sent: 	Saturday, April 07, 2001 8:02:43 AM
> To: 	Commissioner
> Subject: 	Docket # 00N-1396 and #00D-1598
> Auto forwarded by a Rule
> 
> 
Commissioner ,

I am extremely concerned that the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) has proposed regulations that still
fail to require labels or safety tests on genetically
engineered (GE) food. Labels on GE foods are required
in Japan, Russia, and throughout Europe, yet your new
proposal continues to deny Americans the right to know what
is in our food.
I KNOW MANY PEOPLE WITH MULTIPLE FOOD ALLERGIES.HOW CAN THEY EAT SAFELY IF THE LABELS AREN'T THERE? 
PLEASE DON'T EXPERIMENT WITH THE PUBLIC LIKE THIS. THE GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS MAY BE THE SAME NUTRITIONALLY BUT THERE ARE UNKNOWN FACTORS TO CONSIDER. I THINK THE SCARIEST LAB TEST SHOWED ANIMALS THAT HAD EATEN G.M. FOODS HAD TINY PIECES OF GENETIC MATERIAL FROM THE FOODS IN THEIR BRAINS. PLEASE DO SEVERAL MORE YEARS OF LONG TERM TESTING BEFORE ALLOWING THESE FOODS INTO THE PUBLIC FOOD SUPPLY. OR AT THE VERY LEAST REQUIRE LABELING SO WE HAVE A CHOICE OF WHETHER TO BE PART OF A LAB EXPERIMENT OR NOT. 

Labels must be required to protect the public from potential
health effects that could only be traced if GE foods can be
identified, yet FDA?s "voluntary labeling" guidelines will
leave thousands of unlabeled GE foods on our supermarket
shelves. Furthermore, the agency?s proposed rule only
requires companies to notify FDA when bringing GE foods
to market, but it fails to require any safety testing.
Doctors and scientists have warned about the potential for
GE foods to trigger dangerous allergies, change the
nutritional value of foods, and cause irreversible harm to
the environment. FDA appears to be playing politics with
our food, disregarding science-based precautions that other
countries have implemented.


I urge you to reconsider this proposal and insure that GE
foods are subject to pre-market testing and labeling.
Americans deserve the same protections as the rest of the
world. 


Lydia Mortensen
13 Green Knolls Lane
Newtown, Ct 06470
morts5@juno.com