* Tropical Storm Karen leaves crops unscathed

* U.S. government shutdown continues to spook investors

* Shutdown hampers access to key U.S. government statistics

By Marina Lopes

NEW YORK, Oct 8 (Reuters) - New York cotton prices fell on Tuesday as worries over crop damage due to Tropical Storm Karen subsided while a second week of the U.S. government shutdown kept investors wary.

The most-active December cotton contract on ICE Futures U.S. dropped 33 cent, or 0.4 percent, to settle at 83.69 cents a lb. Prices teetered close to four-week lows after touching an intraday low of 83.63 cents a lb.

Fiber underperformed the broader commodity market, with the Thomson Reuters-Jefferies CRB index, a closely watched indicator for commodities, up 0.23 percent on the day.

Karen dissipated over the Gulf of Mexico, sparing key U.S. growing regions, bringing the largest drop in prices in six weeks.

"There's people still long in this market. They are long from above 85 cents and they're under water," said Jobe Moss, a broker with MCM Inc in Lubbock, Texas.

Worries over potential damage from the storm lifted cotton to a six-week high last week.

"The huge decline during the previous session had likely prompted some mills to fix prices with merchants," he said.

Equities edged lower and the dollar hovered near an eight-month low against major currencies, as the stalemate in Washington showed no signs of abating.

The shutdown could hamper farmers' access to crucial federal loans and has denied traders' access to key government statistics, like the monthly crop report which was scheduled to be released on Friday but has been delayed.

"It take volumes out of the market. It is real hard to get people to trade with no information. I don't blame them," said Jack Scoville, analyst at the Price Futures Group.

On Monday, total open interest was 209,987, down by 2,155 contracts from the previous session, according to the most recent ICE data. (Editing by Josephine Mason and Phil Berlowitz)