Action Alert on FDA's Bogus Proposed Rules on GE Foods

Simon Harris/Organic Consumers Association 30jan01

Please forward this email and help flood the FDA with comments. A sample letter is included.

Take Action!

The FDA has announced an official citizen comment period until April 3, 2001. Write to FDA Commissioner Jane Henney and tell her that the new policy is unacceptable. Tell her you are disappointed that the FDA continues to ignore the safety concerns of consumers and chooses instead to help the companies developing biotech products. Demand that she change the policy on genetically engineered food to one that protects the rights of the consumer. A sample letter follows.

Send your e-mails to fdadockets@oc.fda.gov , subject re: dockets: 00N-1396 and 00D-1598 (very important to reference docket numbers!)

or write to:

FDA Commissioner Jane Henney
Dockets Management Branch (HFA 305)
Food and Drug Administration
5630 FisherÇs Lane, rm. 1061
Rockville MD 20852

For the full text of the FDA rules, visit: http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/oc/ohrms/advdisplay.cfm

Sample Letter

(Thanks to Food First of Oakland California for the wording on this letter):

Dear Commissioner Henney,

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 health effects that could only be traced if GE foods can be identified. By refusing to require both labeling and mandatory safety testing of foods, the FDA puts consumer's health at risk, and ignores the recommendations of the Biotechnology Consultative Forum, who in December urged the US to require mandatory labeling of GE foods.

I urge you to reconsider this proposal and insure that GE foods are subject to pre-market testing and labeling. Americans have a right to make informed decisions about the food we consume.

Sincerely,

------------------------------