From: Coldfyre Greypaws [coldfyre@comic.com]
Sent: Friday, March 30, 2001 4:01 PM
To: fdadockets@oc.fda.gov
Subject: Docket 00N-1396 & Docket 00D-1598

Genetically engineered foods need to have more restrictions placed on them.
Currently, no pre-market safety testing is required for genetically
engineered foods. Why not? They're new, different foods. The FDA is the Food
and Drug Administration. If this were a new drug, wouldn't safety testing be
required before it went on the market? Genetically engineered foods have the
capability to be less nutritious, cause unintended allergic reactions in
consumers, and be hazardous to the environment. Also, if any of these foods
turn out to be hazardous in any way, their mutant genes could already be
multiplying in more and more of the plants. Exterminating every specimen of
a genetically engineered plant, should one prove to be hazardous in the
future, would be difficult, and maybe even impossible if the plants had
already been spreading for years.
It is also very important that, at the very least, genetically engineered
foods should have a mandatory label that tells consumers that the product
they are buying IS genetically engineered. Also, companies that make food
that isn't genetically engineered should be able to advertise that fact on
their packaging. Consumers like myself would greatly appreciate this
labeling, as it would give us freedom to decide whether or not to buy
genetically engineered products. As it is, we cannot tell whether a product
is or isn't genetically engineered, and I find that unsettling, to say the
least. Products are allowed to advertise that they are made without
pesticides or hormones. Why aren't they allowed to advertise it if they
don't use genetic engineering, as well? Drugs require labels that tell
consumers the risks and possible side effects of using them. Since
genetically engineered products don't require safety testing and are at
least as potentially dangerous as drugs, we as consumers are entitled to at
the very least know whether something is or is not genetically engineered!
Safety testing before the products are released would be even better.
Last of all, the FDA must, MUST end its close relationship with the very
industries it claims to be regulating. If people are allowed to work for a
company that creates genetically engineered food, then work for the FDA to
regulate that same food, then work for the company again, that creates a
blatantly obvious conflict of interests. The FDA is there for the safety of
consumers, not to help the biotech industries make more money! The FDA can
pretend that nothing is wrong, but we consumers are NOT fooled. This
corruption must end. Now.
In closing, I hope the FDA will consider these comments when it
makes decisions regarding genetically engineered foods. Regulating these
foods doesn't hurt anybody. However, if genetically engineered foods are
still allowed to be released with no safety testing or labeling, consumers
and the environment could suffer greatly. Thank you for taking the time to
read this message.
-Nathaniel Renfield Bufe


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