From: JCPoor5772@aol.com
Sent: Saturday, March 31, 2001 10:45 AM
To: fdadockets@oc.fda.gov
Subject: dockets 00N1396; 00D-1598

                            9112 Autoville Drive
                            College Park, MD  20740

                            March 30, 2001


FDA Commissioner Jane Henney    
Dockets Management Branch (HFA 305)
Food & Drug Administration
5630 Fishers Lane, Room 1061
Rockville, Maryland  20852

Dear Ms. Henney:

I am writing to express my strong desire in favor of labeling for all forms 
of genetically engineered (GE) foods.  

The world is on the threshold of some very dramatic changes in the way we 
grow, prepare, preserve, and present the very essence of life itself:  Our 
food.  Next to the primacy of water, food is the very foundation for health 
and life itself.  My concern is that without labeling where we are going with 
these coming changes, we will have no roadmap to retrace our way if indeed we 
make a misstep at this junction in our travel.

Just as strict definitions of organic foods and their labeling provide one 
roadmap to our purer history, so must definitions of genetically altered food 
and their public labeling be absolutely essential to the assurance of future 
health and well being.

Perhaps time will tell us - in generations, rather than in years - that 
genetically modified foods are acceptable and not detrimental to most of us.  
Perhaps time will tell us that such foods are not good for us.  And for that 
reason, it is imperative that foods be labeled for their GE content.  If we 
are going to use the citizens of this country and of the world in an 
experiment of safety, we must be able to know who eats what and also allow 
those who wish not to participate in such experimentation their absolute 
right to not choose such foods.  For some, this decision may be 
life-threatening.

I urge you to insure that GE foods are given adequate pre-market  testing.  
However, even with that testing (which should require generations, rather 
than months or years), there will be those who do not wish to consume such 
foods.  All citizens of the world deserve such a consideration, not only 
Americans.  Your decision on the currently proposed regulations can make huge 
differences to us and to all future life on our planet.

Please give this consideration serious deliberation.  I hope that you will 
give all of us the opportunity to make informed decisions about the foods we 
eat.

                            Sincerely,




                            Joan Carol Poor