From: megnzippy@aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, February 13, 2001 9:37 PM
To: fdadockets@oc.fda.gov
Subject: Docket No. 00N-1396, and 00D-1598



Jane Henney
Dockets Management Branch, Food and Drug Administration
5630 Fisher's Lane, Room 1061
Rockville, MD 20852

Dear Jane Henney,

I fear that the new regulations and guidelines put
forward by your agency on genetically engineered (GE)
foods are a disappointment for American consumers.
Despite overwhelming and consistent demand, your agency
still fails to require comprehensive safety testing
for GE foods. The notification policy ignores strong
scientific evidence of numerous potential health and
environmental risks to GE foods, and allows the current
system of laissez-faire oversight to continue. As you
know, genetically engineered foods can be toxic, cause
allergic responses, have lower nutrition value, compromise
immune responses in consumers, and cause irreparable
damage to the environment. 

I am also greatly opposed to your new "voluntary labeling"
policy, which denies consumers their basic right to
know. 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 will also be deprived of the critical
knowledge they need to hold food producers liable,
should any of these foods prove hazardous. Since there
are ecological risks associated with genetically engineered
crops;such as impacts on the soil ecosystem and non-target
species like Monarch butterflies, consumers may want
to avoid them. Labeling allows the consumer to make
an educated decision. 

Your proposed rules ignore serious concerns, and appear
to be a decision made to convenience industry at the
expense of public health and the environment. I trust
you will take my concerns into serious consideration.



Sincerely,


Meg Arnold
350 N. Hampton rd.
Seneca, South Carolina 29672