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In response to the information reported in CELIAC TMPFILE 19 on hearings
before the FDA.

I believe whenever we speak before a governmental agency such as the
FDA, or to our Senators and Representatives, or to National Food
Processors Assn., we should bring to their attention that glutens are a
proven, potent carcinogen for fifteen to eighteen million Americans. If
these carcinogens are in a food product, we should be informed. There is
no problem revealing "secret" ingredients in such disclosures. It can be
done with one of two brief statements. The first is now used by Hormel
Co. on their meat products,"Gluten-Free". The second could be "Contains
gluten-containing ingredients."

I feel the responses by the manufacturers reveal that many believe that
it is a minor nuisance to a few persons. This lack of concern for our
lives has sometimes come across clearly when I have called toll-free
numbers for product gluten information. "After all, people with these
'food allergies' tend to be a little 'flaky anyway" is the attitude.

The second thing we must do is to write our Senators and Representatives
and ask the screening tests be made available by the State Health
Laboratories. In my state, Texas, there is a special Inherited Disease
Laboratory devoted to screening for inherited diseases. Tests for celiac
disease are not performed. To offer such testing would overwhelm these
laboratories, because the workload could be several times that of all
other diseases combined. Funding will be required. We should inform our
elected officials of the life-saving and disease-preventing benefits of
making screening tests available.

When more of the celiacs are diagnosed, they will create a greater
demand for safe, gluten-free foods in restaurants, airports, stadiums,
and school cafeterias.  When more become aware of the need to avoid
these carcinogens, the death rate from malignancies will decrease, the
morbidity from Type 1 diabetes, lupus, Sjogren's, rheumatoid arthritis,
dermatitis herpetiformis, auto-immune thyroiditis, and perhaps several
other diseases will decrease. I believe that the cost-savings from
prevention of these associated diseases will more be more than enough to
pay for the screening.

The Constitution says that we have a right to "Life, Liberty,and the
Pursuit of Happiness".  It is the responsibility of our governments to
protect those rights. These basic rights are infringed whenever we
cannot obtain safe food. What would it be like if your child could eat
food at the school cafeteria? How would it be to be able to travel and
find restaurants where safe food could be ordered without drawing
attention to your  "special diet"? How would it be to go to a food
market, look at a product an know right there whether it is safe or not
, without having to call a toll-free number? How would it be to be able
to obtain safe over-the-counter medications?

Gluten correctly described as a carcinogen in the food of 15 - 18
million Americans conveys the urgency we need to express.

 Noel Funderburk, Ph.D., MT(ASCP)