From: CHANDOS CALDWELL [drchanx1@earthlink.net]
Sent: Sunday, March 25, 2001 7:06 PM
To: fdadockets@oc.fda.gov
Subject: Docket 00N-1396 & Docket 00D-1598

Please do the job of monitoring the most important food products and
their sources.  It is vitally important!  Food is our only source of
nurishment and must be as pure as it can possibly be, else we do not
survive in a healthy state.  I not only would survive, I want to
flourish!

I understand that your budgetary problems may be the cause, so that the
ability of the FDA to monitor food for efficacy and safety, has been
mitigated,  but it must be done.  It must be done to favor consumers,
first, not the food multinationals or any other industrial giants.  It
has been clear for a long time that the industry lobbyists have had
their way in persuading the FDA to do its bidding.  Consumers are
beginning to understand this problem and are now coming to demand that
that situation change. It is critical that the FDA protect the
consumer.   The following are suggestions that must be considered for
the titled Dockets:

                            The FDA must require mandatory pre-market
comprehensive environmental review. Unlike
                            conventional pollutants where a given amount
of pollutant causes a limited amount of damage,
                            a small number of mutant genes could have a
population explosion and reproduce forever,
                            causing unlimited and irreparable damage.

                            The FDA must require mandatory pre-market
long-term health testing. GE products could be
                            toxic, cause allergic responses, have lower
nutritional value, and compromise immune
                            responses in consumers.

                            The FDA must require mandatory labeling of
GE products.  Without mandatory labeling,
                            neither consumers nor health professionals
will know if an allergic or toxic reaction was the
                            result of a genetically engineered food.
Consumers would be deprived of the critical
                            knowledge needed to hold food producers
liable should any of these novel products be
                            hazardous.

                            The FDA must end its cozy relationship with
the industries it purports to be regulating. People
                            have been allowed to work for a biotech
company, then work for the FDA writing the
                            regulatory rules on that company's product,
then go back to working for the company.
                            Ninety-two percent of FDA advisory committee
meetings had at least one conflict of interest.

The implications for doing otherwise are dire, indeed.

CFCaldwell
drchanx1@earthlink.net