From: Robert Austin [raustin@hbs.edu]
Sent: Monday, February 12, 2001 5:41 PM
To: Food and Drug Administration
Subject: Docket # 00N-1396 and #00D-1598


Food and Drug Administration ,

I continue to think that the food industry 
is making a major mistake in refusing to
support labeling of genetically modified
food products.  Refusing to label just 
fuels the suspicions of the public. 

As a Harvard Business School professor, 
I am opposed to actions that deny buyers 
info about what they are buying. Economic
efficiency is promoted when people know
what they want to know about what they
are buying.  Not providing this information
is the worst form of paternalism. 

The FDA is making itself a party to this
mistake by not encouraging labelling.  I 
realize that the conventional wisdom in
food science circles holds that people
can't be trusted to correctly interpret
genetically modified content labels. But
I frankly believe that this conventional
wisdom is wrong.  It is more likely to 
provoke the completely reasonable question
among consumers that goes something like:
Why shouldn't we know about genetic content
if there is nothing is wrong with
the food?

Robert Austin
5 Adams Street
Westborough, MA 01581
USA
raustin@hbs.edu