From: RickieB19@aol.com
Sent: Monday, March 26, 2001 10:17 AM
To: fdadockets@oc.fda.gov
Subject: Docket 00N-1396 & Docket 00D-1598
This email is to advocate for genetically engineered products to be labeled 
and tested for safety.



Please require mandatory pre-market safety testing, r
    equire pre-market 
    environmental review, require mandatory labeling of GE foods, no 
    restriction on voluntary Labeling of non-GE foods, strict notification of 
    intent to genetically engineer products, thorough assessment and testing 
    for years prior to the marketing of a GE food, ensure public access to 
    adequate information for independent review,  and listen to consumer groups. 
    
    * 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. 
    


Thank you for your consideration of this request. 
                                                                              
 Fredrika Block 
                                                                              
 l89-04 64th Ave - 10C 
                                                                              
 Fresh Meadows, NY ll365