Healthy Food – Naturally

consumer@fda.gov
To Whom It May Concern.
I was among the 1 million people who signed the petition to urge you to label genetically modified foods. From my understanding, you chose to bundle all 1 million of us as 1 comment, I choose to write you personally to express my concerns.

While I know that there are close ties between the FDA and the companies that produce genetically modified seeds, please remember that you are part of the United States Government, working for us, the people, not for corporations. At least that is what the Pure Food and Drug Act, which founded you, was about.

Over 30 other countries have either banned GMO’s or are in the midst of considering doing so. These countries include: New Zealand, Austria, Hungary, Greece, Bulgaria, Switzerland and Luxemburg. There are a variety of reasons these countries have banned genetically modified crops, many having to do with health risks that are being found.

Organ Damage – Monsanto’s own testing data showed damage to the kidneys, heart, adrenal glands, spleen, blood flow system and liver. Although the conclusions that Monsanto submitted to you did not show it, a study of the data of GM Corn (NK 603, MON 810 and MON 863), which was modified to be tolerant to Roundup. Keep in mind that the testing Monsanto did was for a total of 90 days. Most chronic illnesses show up after at least a 2 year study. The fact that so much damage showed up in the 90 days is stunning. So the question that comes out is why didn’t you find the problems in the data? Why did you simply accept Monsanto’s opinion? Who are you working for?
Sterility, Birth Defects and Infant Mortality – In 2005 a study was conducted in Russia using rat fed GM Soy. More than 50% of the babies born to rats fed GM soy died within 3 weeks. The death rate on the controls was 10%. In 2009 another Russian study using hamsters was done. Within 3 generations, the hamsters became infertile, were slower to grow and had high mortality rates. Farmers in the United States are also noticing that their livestock fed GM corn are becoming sterile. In Argentina, a study done on GM soy which was sprayed with glyphosate was shown to cause brain, intestinal and heart defects in amphibian fetuses.
Immune Reactions and Allergies – It has been shown that genes from products which produce an allergic response will also carry over into the products that receive the gene.
Cancer Risks – In 1996 rats fed GM potatoes engineered to produce their own insecticide developed pre-cancerous growths and organ damage. The research determined that the genetic engineering itself, not the insecticide was the cause.
There are serious risks to eating genetically modified foods, risks that really should call for banning them altogether. And while that is something I sincerely hope will happen one day, I realize that for the moment, you won’t do that.
What I hope you will do (and what I strongly urge) is for you to requiring labeling for genetically modified foods. Allow us, the people of the United States to know what is in our food and to choose whether or not to eat it. Some will, some won’t, but the choice should be ours, not Monsanto’s.
I fully expect a form letter to this, but I am putting this out there anyways. The ties between the FDA and Monsanto are too strong at this point to allow the people you supposedly serve to have a voice. But I tell you sincerely, that the more people know, the less of this we will tolerate. At some point, we will no longer ask, we will act.

Sincerely,
Sandra Clark
Germantown, MD

Pure Food, How far We have Fallen
GMO Health Risks
GMOs and Monsanto

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Tags: Food and Drug Administration, Genetically modified organism, Monsanto, Pure Food and Drug Act