From: lor [lor@newmexico.com]
Sent: Saturday, March 31, 2001 11:51 AM
To: fdadockets@oc.fda.gov
Subject: dockets 00N-1396 and 00D-1598

Dear FDA Commissioner,

The proposed Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations fail to
require labels or safety tests on genetically engineered (GE) food. The
new rules continue to deny Americans the right to know what is in our
food, while protecting the economic interests of biotech corporations.

Labeling GE foods would protect the public from potential hazardous
health effects such as food allergies and toxicity that can only be
traced if GE foods can be identified. By refusing to require both
labeling and mandatory pre-market safety testing of foods, the FDA puts
consumer's health at risk, ignores possible environmental hazards, and
fails to satisfy the overwhelming desire of American consumers to
exercise freedom of choice in the marketplace.

It is not enough to require that firms simply notify you of their intent
to market a food produced with genetic engineering.  The proposed
"voluntary labeling" guidelines will do nothing to inform consumers of
the presence of genetically engineered ingredients in their food,
because biotech companies and food manufacturers have vehemently opposed
labeling in the past and will not voluntarily label their foods in the
future.

Therefore, I urge you to keep all genetically engineered ingredients and
crops off the market unless or until they are labeled to ensure
consumers¹ right-to-know; and the biotechnology corporations that
produce them are held responsible for any harms they may cause.

Sincerely,

Lindsay Robinson
Santa Fe, NM