<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

I just received the following message from my congressman Chris Smith NJ  I
thought I would share it with all of you.  It may encourage those who felt
their letters would not be heard, to write to their representatives.

Dear Mrs. Lydick

Thank you for contacting me to express your support for legislation
requiring more accurate food labeling of our nation’s meat, dairy, fruit,
fish and gran products.  You’ll be pleased to know that legislation is
pending before the House Energy and Commerce Committee that would require
the food industry to more clearly label Products that can cause allergic
reactions in humans.

Recently introduced in December, the Food Allergen Consumer Protection Act
(HR 3684) would impose stricter labeling standards for eight specific foods
that scientists believe cause 90 percent of all food-related allergic
reactions.  Under the legislation, the eight foods that would be affected
are: milk, eggs, fish, crustacean, tree nuts, wheat peanuts, and soybeans.

Under HR 3684, manufacturers would be able to choose from two label formats
similar to those required for nutritional information disclosure.  The bill
would also require the Food and Drug Administration to develop a rule for
voluntary “gluten-free” labeling and to conduct studies with the Institute
of Medicine to examine whether mandatory gluten labels would be justifiable.
Gluten is the protein left behind after starch is washed away from wheat
flour dough.  Research has shown that gluten causes severe stomach problems
in about 1.5 million Americans, and as you mentioned, can be fatal fore
those with celiac disease  (I don’t recall saying that)

The legislation would also direct the secretary of Health and Human Services
to issue rules on good manufacturing practices and to annually publish data
on the prevalence of food allergies and the incidence of food
allergy-related injury and death.

For example, recent FDA study found that 25 percent of bakery products, ice
creams and candies that included traces of peanuts and eggs fail to list
them as ingredients.  It also found that the number of recalls due to
unlabeled allergens rose from 35 to 121 between 1990 and 2000.

The legislation is necessary to protect consumers from inadvertently eating
a food that can cause sever and sudden health consequences.  In many cases,
the amount of the food allergen necessary to induce a severe reaction can be
so minute, that even a reasonable person might not know how to avoid buying
foods with trace amounts of allergen in their ingredients.

Statistics also show that 30,000 people receive emergency room treatment
after suffering allergic reactions to food each year, and an estimated 150
die from anaphylactic shock.  According to the National Institutes of
Health, about 2 in 100 children suffer from food allergies, and about 1 in
100 adults suffer as well.

Rest assured I will continue to monitor this legislation to ensure it
receives its due consideration.  With the second session for the 108th
Congress underway, I hope that the House will have the opportunity to
consider this legislation.  As always, if I can be of any further assistance
to you on this or any other matter of concern, please do not hesitate to
call on me.

Sincerely Chris Smith, Member of Congress


I think he gets it!  I feel this is real progress, and I hope that the
current research will convince the Congress that gluten should also be
mandatory  Continue to write your Congressmen and Senators—they are
beginning to listen and understand..  I also wrote to the FDA.  Blessings,
Carol

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