<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> Sorry this took so long to send this.....my puter at work is acting up and i have a problem sending OUT mail..... Since I have not solid proof that they are safe or not.....I have stopped using them anyway, just my personal decision. Here are the responses I have received: I just heard the same thing! I am celiac and also allergic to corn and someone told me they are dusted with cornstarch too! Please, please tell me what you find out! Nancy Maybe it is the glue from envelopes, etc. I hear that stamps and envelopes often have gluten in the glue. Also, this is relatively recent I believe, but they are starting to do more printing with soy inks. You probably aren't allergic to soy, but that is all I can think of. It's hard to know what they put in products to make them--gets a little discouraging when some of the things you would think are the safest turn out not to be! Hey! Me too. Since I was in college, at least. Could be dyes in ink on cards. Be interested in seeing what others come up with. Sue It's probably the glue. The only cause I can think of is that they are using "wheat starch sizing" to help to whiten and stiffen the paper plates. This is an ingredient used in watercolour paper for stiffness and whiteness. Please let us know what the stores say. Mike I can't go into Hallmark because of all the things that have perfume on or in them, I call them and they bring out the cards I choose and pay and leave. I have many chemical sensitivities I can fairly safely assure you that there is no gluten in paper cups. If anything, that's something the corn sensitive might need to consider, as most paper cups and plates are coated with a type of corn oil. I would imagine your card store problem is an environmental allergy and not a food one... Now that you mention it .... yeah. I totally zone out in a paper or Hallmark store, and even when I try to buy office supplies at WalMart. How strange.But the worst place I ever zoned out (got dizzy and almost fell down) was the bakery end of an enormous WalMart in California, where they baked from scratch. i all of a sudden a few years ago became deathly allergic to cedar wood. now this happened before my celiac diagnosis. it was just all of a sudden. remember allergies can happen to anyone overnight. who really knows. i think it is just the body changing and maybe not so much celiac. i would think that once we eat the right way with no glutens, then we should be as "normal" as someone w/o celiac. no antigens should be produced if there is no gluten in the blood. so i would think. just makes sense if you think about it. why should people have more problems if they are not ingesting gluten? i mean, i know some people have years to heal, but for most of us we should be fine as long as we are gluten clean.. no poison, no problems... am i right?? so my guess is an allergy to something. nothing celiac related. are you someone suffering with DH? if so, then maybe it is the DH reaction, who knows, but if you do not have that, then i would say allergy or environmental reaction to something maybe in their air vents..