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Listmates,

FYI, Here is the response I sent to Mr. Cusing at Time magazine.

Sincerely,

Paul Pehrson
Spanish Fork, UT


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Paul Pehrson
Subject: Re: July 19 Your Time
To: Time Letters <[log in to unmask]>

Mr Cushing,

Thank you for your personal response to my letter to the editor. I
appreciate the time you have taken to respond to my concern
personally.

While I respect Dr. Elliott for his work and opinion, I still take
issue with his word choice. As a writer and editor, I'm sure you
undertsand the elegance acheived when the precise word is selected.
Dr. Elliott may have chosen the word "allergy" over the word
"intolerance" because the word "allergy" conveys a stronger meaning to
many people. Some readers are  not aware of the subtle differences
between an allergy and an intolerance. It is often easier to explain
to a waiter/relative/friend that I have a severe allergy to wheat
instead of saying I have gluten intolerance.

However, I believe that TIME intends to be as accurate as possible in
its reporting. Accuracy requires that celiac disease be classified as
a "gluten intolerance" instead of a "wheat allergy."

I am including some URLs that may help clarify the meaning of
"allergy" versus "intolerance", and some URLs that show how celiac
disease is, in fact, an intolerance, not an allergy.

Allergy vs. Intolerance
Lydia S. Boeken M.D.
http://www.celiac.com/st_prod.html?p_prodid=181&p_catid=11&sid=91hH9H0-dEsqCO1-35104559318.c6

Allergy and Intolerance
National Institute of Health
http://www.niaid.nih.gov/factsheets/food.htm

Food Allergy and Intolerance
A website of the Australian government
http://www.disability.vic.gov.au/dsonline/dsarticles.nsf/pages/Food_allergy_and_intolerance?opendocument

Wheat Intolerance--What's the Real Story?
Brittish Nutritional Foundation
http://www.nutrition.org.uk/information/factfiles/wheat.htm

Celiac Disease / Wheat Allergies
Sue Gilbert, consulting nutritionist
http://www.parentsplace.com/expert/nutritionist/qas/0,,240073_105170,00.html

You might try googling "allergy and intolerance" or "celiac 'not an allergy'".

Again, I appreciate the time and effort you have put into ensuring the
accuracy of TIME articles. I further encourage you to consider future
articles on celiac disease for TIME, as there are a number of very
interesting connections between celiac and other disorders.

Sincerely,

Paul Pehrson
Spanish Fork, UT




On Fri, 16 Jul 2004 11:27:42 -0400, Time Letters <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Dear Mr. Pehrson:
>
> Thank you for your letter prompted by Michael Lemonick's July 19 Your
> Time article, "Allergic to Wheat?"  According to Dr. David Elliott,
> director of the University of Iowa's Celiac Clinic, celiac disease is
> aptly described as a severe allergy to gluten, and we regret your
> consternation at seeing the word used in this context.  Lemonick was
> also sure to note the range of the disease's symptoms and to add that
> it is "not just discomforting" but "triggers an immune response that
> attacks the lining of the intestines."
>
> Our thanks for your attentive interest in our reporting, and best wishes.
>
> Sincerely,
> Robert Cushing
> TIME
>
>

* Please remember some posters may be WHEAT-FREE, but not GLUTEN-FREE *