From: EXECSEC Sent: Friday, March 16, 2001 6:06 AM To: Dockets, FDA Subject: FW: Docket # 00N-1396 and #00D-1598 > ---------- > From: Julie Bru[SMTP:MARTEN97@AOL.COM] > Sent: Friday, March 16, 2001 6:06:13 AM > To: Commissioner > Subject: Docket # 00N-1396 and #00D-1598 > Auto forwarded by a Rule > > Commissioner , I am extremely angry and 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. I have a right to know what is in my food (packaged or fresh). You may think I am crazy or ignorant....I am not....in any event, it is not your place or right to deny me FACTS. That is the antithesis of democracy! 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. 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. Julie Bru 5130 Bradley Blvd Chevy Chase, MD 20815 marten97@aol.com