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Christine Oldenburg contacted me about the President's allergies and asked
what results I wanted from contacting the Washington Post or some other
news media about the President's sensitivity to wheat.  I began to write an
answer just to Christine, and decided that perhaps I am talking to all of
you when I say that the following are the things I want to accomplish:

I want some public awareness of celiac disease.  I want some action on food
labels.  I want the medical professionals to know more about the disease
and quit missing diagnosis for years and years while people get sicker and
sicker.  I want hospitals to have dietitians who know about gluten-free
food. I want pharmacists who are concerned and aware of the possibility of
harmful gluten in some prescriptions, and I want the pharmaceutical houses
to make pills that are gluten-free. I want oral polio vaccine and adhesive
for I V's that will not cause gluten reactions.  I want the whole host of
people who are asymptomatic but have lousy dispositions because they eat
gluten to know that their nasty tempers might be caused by gluten.  I want
people who go thru life with a hypothetical gauze bag wrapped around their
brains to function at 100% of mental capacity because they change to
gluten-free diets.    I want the number of osteoporosis patients to
decline.  And I want to be able to go to a normal restaurant and order food
I know is safe.  That's what I want.

If a national figure is found to react negatively to gluten, perhaps some
public awareness will happen and a few of those goals will be be at least
approached.

Gayle Kennedy