From: Eustace M. Frilingos [emf202@nyu.edu]
Sent: Saturday, March 24, 2001 12:37 AM
To: fdadockets@oc.fda.gov
Subject: re: dockets

Dear FDA Commissioner,

The proposed Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations fail to
require labels or safety tests on genetically engineered (GE) food. The

new rules continue to deny Americans the right to know what is in our
food, while protecting the economic interests of biotech corporations.

Labeling GE foods would protect the public from potential hazardous
health effects such as food allergies and toxicity that can only be
traced if GE foods can be identified. By refusing to require both
labeling and mandatory pre-market safety testing of foods, the FDA puts
consumer's health at risk, ignores possible environmental hazards, and
fails to satisfy the overwhelming desire of American consumers to
exercise freedom of choice in the marketplace.

It is not enough to require that firms simply notify you of their
intent to
market a food produced with genetic engineering; this is no substitute
for thorough pre-market safety testing. The proposed "voluntary
labeling" guidelines will do nothing to inform consumers of the
presence of genetically engineered ingredients in their food, because
biotech companies and food manufacturers have vehemently opposed
labeling in the past and will not voluntarily label their foods in the
future.

Therefore, I urge you to keep all genetically engineered ingredients
and crops off the market unless or until:

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

2) They are labeled to ensure consumers' right-to-know; and

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

Sincerely,

Eustace M. Frilingos