From: drjanson@drjanson.com
Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2001 7:36 AM
To: fdadockets@oc.fda.gov
Subject: What's in your food? (FDA Dockets 00N-1396 and 00D-1598)


Dear Corporate and Government Leaders,

Neither government nor industry is protecting Americans from the risks posed to human health and the environment by genetically engineered (GE) foods. The Food and Drug Administration's "new" policy on GE foods (proposed January 18, 2001) continues to let the biotech industry regulate itself; it fails to require the long-term, pre-market safety testing demanded by independent experts. The "voluntary labeling" guidelines are a wholly inadequate response to the overwhelming public support for mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods. Therefore, I urge you to keep all genetically engineered ingredients and crops off the market unless:

1) Independent safety testing demonstrates they have no harmful effects on human health or the environment, 

2) They are labeled to ensure the consumer's right-to-know, and 

3) The biotechnology corporations that manufacture them are held accountable for any harms they may cause.


As a physician, I have repeatedly seen the negative effects of allowing untested products into the marketplace, without safety or health information to support it. In this case, the public wants and has the right to know what is in their foods.

Allowing the farming of genetically engineered crops has the potential to contaminate other crops before we have any idea that it is safe, and indications we do have are not promising.

The government needs to force companies to provide safety data before allowing this to continue, and possibly creating another embarrassing fiasco for the government and the companies, to say nothing of the possible negative health effects on farms and people.


Sincerely

Michael Janson
18 Bond St.
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138