One Minute Activist
November, 2001

The Center for Science in the Public Interest is campaigning for clearer, easy to read ingredient labels on food. Write to the FDA Commissioner to support this campaign.

One Minute Activist letters are available on the bulletin boards at both stores. Or download an Adobe PDF version (36K) of this letter to print from your computer.

Note: to download the PDF letter file, you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. It's available for free at adobe.com.

Text of November's One Minute Activist Letter:

November, 2001

FDA Commissioner
5600 Fischers Lane
Rockville, MD, 20852

To the FDA Commissioner:

I am writing to support the Center for Science in the Public Interest’s campaign for clearer, easy to read ingredient labels on food. The ingredients list should use a readable typeface of sufficient size, black printing on a white background, and use upper and lower case letters.

For people with food allergies, hard to read labels are more than an inconvenience, they are dangerous. A mistake or missing a word, especially on labels where words are small, bunched together, and barely distinguishable, could cost someone their life. Many others concerned with their health are now reading labels to avoid many ingredients such as trans-fatty acids and hydrogenated oils.

The FDA overhauled the labels bearing nutrition facts in the early 1990’s, and they are clear and easy to read. Why not follow the same formula for the ingredient labels?

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

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