From: huray33@juno.com Sent: Saturday, March 10, 2001 10:01 AM To: fdadockets@oc.fda.gov Subject: Oppose FDA's New Regulations on Genetically Engineered Food Raymond Pesonen 5 Frank Ave Hicksville, NY 11801 huray33@juno.com RE: Docket No. 00N-1396, and 00D-1598 Dear FDA, I am outraged by your new policies on genetically engineered (GE) foods. Despite overwhelming consumer demand, your agency still fails to require safety testing and mandatory labeling for GE foods. I am greatly opposed to your new "voluntary labeling" policy, which denies consumers a basic right to know. 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 will also be deprived of the critical knowledge they need to hold food producers liable should any of these novel foods prove hazardous. Your proposed rules ignore serious concerns, and appear to be a decision made to convenience industry at the expense of public health and the environment. I will not accept your attempt to make me a guinea pig of these untested foods, and I trust you will take my concern along with the thousands of others into serious consideration. Sincerely, Raymond M. Pesonen Raymond Pesonen