From: EXECSEC
Sent: Friday, March 09, 2001 7:05 AM
To: Dockets, FDA
Subject: FW: Docket # 00N-1396 and #00D-1598



> ----------
> From: 	Benjamin Boorman[SMTP:BGBOORMAN@HOTMAIL.COM]
> Sent: 	Friday, March 09, 2001 7:04:30 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 (G.E.) food.  Labels on G.E. 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.
 
Labels must be required to protect the public from potential health effects that could only be traced if G.E. foods can be
identified, yet FDA's "voluntary labeling" guidelines will leave thousands of unlabeled G.E. foods on our supermarket
shelves.  Furthermore, the agency?s proposed rule only requires companies to notify FDA when bringing G.E. foods
to market, but it fails to require any safety testing.  

Doctors and scientists have warned about the potential for G.E. foods to trigger dangerous allergies, change the nutritional value of foods, and cause irreversible harm to the environment.  The 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 G.E. foods are subject to pre-market testing and labeling.  Americans deserve the same protections as the rest of the world. 


Benjamin Boorman
6351 Arbor Creek Trail
Apt. 207
Memphis, TN 38115-0443 
U.S.A.
bgboorman@hotmail.com