From: Carolyn Shea [cshea@audubon.org]
Sent: Saturday, March 31, 2001 3:26 PM
To: Food and Drug Administration
Subject: Docket # 00N-1396 and #00D-1598


Food and Drug Administration ,

I am opposed to the move by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to not 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. We are not guinea pigs!
 

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. 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 GE foods are subject to pre-market testing and labeling. Americans deserve the same protections as the rest of the world. I hope you will do the right thing.

Sincerely,
Carolyn Shea




Carolyn  Shea

USA
cshea@audubon.org