From: Angela Merici [msouthardcsj@juno.com]
Sent: Sunday, April 01, 2001 10:44 PM
To: fdadockets@oc.fda.gov
Subject: Docket 00N-1396 and Docket OOD-1598

Message to the Federal Food and Drug Administration,

In recent years there have been more and more serious betrayals of food
and drug safety for the people of this country.  The agriculture and
healing substance practices now "supported" are becoming more and more
threatening and dishonest.   It is my undersstanding that the purpose of 
your office to maintain the integrity of of our food and healing
substtances in this country.  Decisions seem more and more to be made in
behalf of Agribusines, Chemical Companies,  and now other Corporate
powers who are messing with the gene pool, ie. ENTITIES THAT HAVE POWER
AND MONEY.  The American people are depending on YOUR integrity to make
right and just decisions on our behalf.  Please be care -- fulL for our
lives.  At this moment I am referring to the following:

GENETICALLY ENGINEERED PRODUCTS 
MUST BE LABELED AND TESTED FOR SAFETY!

The Food and Drug Administration is now accepting public 
comment on its proposed new rules on genetically engineered 
(GE) foods.  Despite overwhelming consumer demand, the FDA
has failed to require health and ecological safety testing 
or mandatory labeling, and thus puts your health and our 
environment at risk and deprives you of the right to know 
or choose what you are eating.

The proposed rules:

* Do not require mandatory pre-market safety testing
* Do not require pre-market environmental review
* Do not require mandatory labeling of GE foods
* Restrict voluntary labeling of non-GE foods
* Require a mere letter of notification prior to the 
  marketing of a GE food
* Fail to ensure public access to adequate information 
  for independent review
* Are supported by industry and opposed by consumer groups

The FDA needs to hear from hundreds of thousands of Americans 
that:

* 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.

Thank you for your serious reflection on this matter.  We're depending on
you!  We have a right and a need to be able to do that.

Sincerely,

Mary Southard