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Hello, all,

I guess that I'm one of the (few?) people left who believes that a President
of the United States is entitled some privacy and respect for his medical
status as anyone else.  As long as his alleged allergies, food sensitivities,
immune status, etc. don't constitute a potential threat to national or
international security, it is his right to keep those matters private.

I know that there are others on this list who won't agree, but that's fine.
 And I can certainly understand the curiosity about the President (or any
other public person).  Some of us may be comfortable with the idea of a
stranger, or a group of strangers, contacting us and asking graphic questions
(yes, the description of the day-to-day effects of untreated Celiac disease
or unintentional ingestion of gluten can be very graphic...) and demanding
answers to them in order to advance an important cause.  But that is not true
of all people--I, for example, would feel insulted, and believe that anyone
who did that to me were arrogant, cruel, and insensitive, and perhaps, up to
no good.

I believe that the President has made it clear that he'd like to keep matters
of his and his family's health private whenever he can.  It may even be a
good move to do so for national security reasons.  Imagine, for example, if
the rumour were true, and it wound up in the papers.  Then, it would be more
than the National Enquirer getting in on the fray.  I can imagine
well-respected newspapers with headlines saying something like, "President
Has Rare Disease; Don't Worry, He Tells the Nation."  Poor Boris Yeltsin
would be ignored, the Dow Jones Industrial Average would lose 1000 points in
one day, Congress would go nuts and forget about reforms, etc.

I can think in terms of compromise, however.  One of them might be to ask the
White House Chef what s/he serves when s/he has to prepare state dinners when
one or more of the attendees has food allergies, gluten sensitivity, Celiac
Disease, etc.  Who knows--the Chef might even give recipes, and give uncommon
ideas about how to get definitive information about the GF status of certain
foods.

Just my $0.02,

Sue
(back at home in Charlotte, North Carolina)