Fw: [] Fw: TELL THE FDA THAT GENETICALLY ENGINEERED PRODUCTS MUST BE LABELED AND TESTED FOR SAFETY!

[Guest guest]

TELL THE FDA THAT GENETICALLY ENGINEERED PRODUCTS

> MUST BE LABELED AND TESTED FOR SAFETY!

>

> The Food and Drug Administration is now accepting public

> comment on its proposed new rules on genetically engineered

> (GE) foods. Despite overwhelming consumer demand, the FDA

> has failed to require health and ecological safety testing

> or mandatory labeling, and thus puts your health and our

> environment at risk and deprives you of the right to know

> or choose what you are eating.

>

> The proposed rules:

>

> * Do not require mandatory pre-market safety testing

> * Do not require pre-market environmental review

> * Do not require mandatory labeling of GE foods

> * Restrict voluntary labeling of non-GE foods

> * Require a mere letter of notification prior to the

> marketing of a GE food

> * Fail to ensure public access to adequate information

> for independent review

> * Are supported by industry and opposed by consumer groups

>

> The FDA needs to hear from hundreds of thousands of Americans

> that:

>

> * 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.

>

> PLEASE ACT TODAY. THE DEADLINE FOR COMMENTS IS TUESDAY, APRIL 3.

>

> Email your comments to: fdadockets@...

> with " Docket 00N-1396 & Docket 00D-1598 " in the Subject line

>

> Mail your comments to:

> Docket 00N-1396 & Docket 00D-1598

> Dockets Management Branch (HFA-305)

> Food and Drug Administration

> 5630 Fishers Lane, Room 1061

> Rockville, MD 20852

>

> For more information: www.organicconsumers.org , 218-226-4164