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Hi All--

I know many of you have been anxiously awaiting this
summary; my apologies for taking so long to get it
together - some issues that arose in the replies to my
question were complicated.

Thanks to the 30+ people who took their time and
energy to reply to my original question - some
responses were long, and all were very well
articulated and obviously thoughtful.

Though this was not word for word my original
question, essentially, I wanted to know, does
Enterolab accept insurance assignments or does
everyone pay up front and hope their insurance will
reimburse? And, if Enterolab is not recognized by
major insurance companies, does that reflect on the
validity of their testing?

First of all, a number of people were kind enough to
educate me to the fact that whether or not a doctor
accepts insurance has nothing at all to do with the
validity of the tests and/or the competency of the
physician/researcher (short and sweet explanation).

Also, evidently, many labs, doctors, researchers, etc.
do not care to get bogged down with insurance
companies, thus leaving it up to the patient to seek
reimbursement. This abbreviated bit of information is
not my intention to slight anyone's carefully written
reply - there was just so much information that I
couldn't include all of the points of issue I
received.

Once I read *all* of the responses, it occurred to me
that what I really intended to ask was, what proof do
we have that Enterolab's testing is valid? A few of
you picked up on what I really wanted to know and
addressed it in your responses.

People who replied are very definitely and sharply
divided on their opinion of Enterolab. I really found
absolutely no gray area - people either thought Dr.

Fine was the best thing to happen to celiac research
since the invention of the microscope (on one
extreme), or they were skeptical and didn't trust his
methods. Forgive me if this offends any of you, but

*some* of those replies who were so supportive of Dr.
Fine and Enterolab, struck me as similar in tone and
spirit to what I read and heard the followers of Jim
Jones in Guyana say about Mr. Jones.

On the other hand, four responses to my post were from
people who had been to one of Dr. Fine's lectures or
seminars. Because of what they wrote, they asked and I
agreed not to repeat anything they told me. I didn't
feel any of these four people were overreacting or
were being vicious in their assessment of either Dr.

Fine or Enterolab, but candid and simply expressing
their impressions. Those four replies reflected a deep
distrust and included questions of an ethical and
personal nature, stemming from observations during the
seminars.

In my own opinion, there is not enough research data
published by Dr. Fine to trust that his testing is
valid. If his method for detecting celiac markers in
stool samples is truly valid, that test must be
reproduceable by other researchers, scientists or
physicians. Until his tests can be performed by other
laboratories and the results that Dr. Fine claims are
validated, I wouldn't be able to trust the test
results. This process of submitting one's research to
others to perform is standard medical/scientific
practice - and a good one. Otherwise, I could say I
had a test that detected celiac markers in saliva, but
unless others can reproduce my testing methods and get
the same or similar results, my test is not valid.

Everyone must make their own decisions regarding the
validity of Enterolab's testing. I would only caution
people, especially newbies to the list, not to act
hastily. Talk to people on the list privately, contact
celiac organizations/support groups and ask their
opinion regarding how or where you should be tested.

But most importantly of all...don't choose a
laboratory, doctor or researcher just because they
offer the easiest or most convenient test for you.

Wishing everyone well...

Ayn/Kansas