From: EXECSEC
Sent: Friday, March 09, 2001 12:00 PM
To: Dockets, FDA
Subject: FW: Docket # 00N-1396 and #00D-1598



> ----------
> From: 	Heather Polson[SMTP:HEATHERPOLSON@HOTMAIL.COM]
> Sent: 	Friday, March 09, 2001 11:59:57 AM
> To: 	Commissioner
> Subject: 	Docket # 00N-1396 and #00D-1598
> Auto forwarded by a Rule
> 
> 
Commissioner ,

I can't believe that you are letting corporations get away with breaking the law in such ways as using food & food additives that have not yet been properly tested or approved for human consumption, (Starlink Corn adnd god only knows what else is out there swimming in people's morning bowl of Cornflakes).

Shame on you.  No wonder this country is going to hell in a handbasket!  How can people be expected to care in the government system when they have to put their hard earned dollars into it and all they get back is rich corporations getting their way while the health and well being of the individual, the community, the people is flagrantly ignored.

You absolutely MUST require labelling of GMOs in food.  Let me ask you this: Are you letting your children or grandchildren eat Oreos and Cornflakes?  If so, I can't wait to see what happens to them, since they are a part of the nationwide guinea pig whose fate rests on the greedy corporations who don't give a damn about their consumers (as long as they get higher profits next quarter, they're happy little clams).  


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 (GE) food. Labels on GE 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.
 
Even Russia, whose system is trying so hard to rebuild itself, cares enough about her people to label food.  They know how important it is to everyone.
Labels must be required to protect the public from potential health effects that could only be traced if GE foods can be
identified, yet FDA's "voluntary labeling" guidelines will leave thousands of unlabeled GE foods on our supermarket
shelves. Furthermore, the agency's proposed rule only requires companies to notify FDA when bringing GE foods
to market, but it fails to require any safety testing.
Doctors and scientists have warned about the potential for GE foods to trigger dangerous allergies, change the nutritional value of foods, and cause irreversible harm to the environment. 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 GE foods are subject to pre-market testing and labeling.
Americans deserve the same protections as the rest of the world. 

Your office exists to help protect the health of Americans and make companies follow guidelines to ensure our safety.  Please don't let us down.


Heather Polson

heatherpolson@hotmail.com