From: Center for Food Safety [action@foodsafetynow.org]
Sent: Saturday, March 17, 2001 6:58 PM
To: FDA Commissioner
Cc: president@whitehouse.gov; vice.president@whitehouse.gov;
fdadockets@oc.fda.gov; fdadockets@oc.fda.gov
Subject: Oppose the New FDA Regulations on GE Foods!

FDA Commissioner 
Dockets Management Branch (HFA 305)
Food and Drug Administration
5630 Fisher's Lane, rm. 1061
Rockville, MD 20852

RE: Docket No. 00N-1396, and 00D-1598

Dear FDA,
 
Joyce and I are outraged by your new policies on genetically engineered 
 (GE)foods. Despite overwhelming consumer demand, your agency still fails 
to require safety testing and mandatory labeling for GE foods.  We insist 
that you require a mandatory disclosure through Food Safety Data Sheets 
(FSDSs), modeled after Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) used by general 
industry in all work places. 

Your “notification” policy is an insult to consumers, and irresponsibly 
ignores strong scientific evidence of numerous potential health and 
environmental risks to GE foods. 

You should be aware that these foods could be toxic, could cause allergic 
responses, could have lower nutrition value, could compromise immune 
responses in consumers, and could cause irreparable damage to the 
environment. 

Joyce and I already suffer from many different food allergies.  We don't 
know why.  Only God knows why!  We do know that - as technical and 
professional people - genetically modified can indeed cause irreparable 
damage.

We are also greatly opposed to your new “voluntary labeling” policy, which 
denies consumers a basic right to know. We not only insist on labelling, 
we insist that any genetically engineered food comply with the risk 
assessments similar to those used with Material Safety Data Sheets and 
workers rights to know about workplace hazards.  
We want these assessments to be available for any food consumer as Food 
Safety Data Sheets (FSDS) as we mentioned before. 

Without mandatory labeling with FSDS, 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 novel foods prove hazardous.

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 will not accept your attempt to make me a guinea pig of 
these untested foods, and I trust you will take my concern along with the 
thousands of others into serious consideration.


Sincerely,

Michael Overeem, PE (EE) & Joyce Overeem, RN (Critical Care)

Michael & Joyce Overeem
2868 Glacier Avenue
Cody, WY, 82414

CC: 
The President
Vice President Dick Cheney
FDA Dockets Management [Docket No. 00N-1396]
Senator Craig Thomas
Senator Michael Enzi
Representative Barbara CubinFDA Dockets Management [Docket No. 00D-1598]


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