<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> On Mon, 12 Dec 1994 10:37:45 -0600 J. Murray said: >The issue of airborne exposure to gluten should not be of concern to the >vast majority of people with celiac disease. The potential problem would >likely relate to the swallowing of flour that wold have picked up by the >mucous membranes of the nose and lower airways which is usually >swallowed and ends up in the stomach. My son isn't (I don't think) a celiac, but as I have posted, reacts very strongly to gluten. In my (ha!) spare time I bake cakes for other people, so it is impossible to keep gluten out of our kitchen. I have never noticed that this is a problem for him. My bread machine is very hard to clean and I never make anything except GF bread in it. I am very careful about my counters, and my kitchen aide mixer, which does get used for both kinds of cooking. I've started keeping my regular flour in a large, sealed container in my garage rather than in the pantry (where Sam is frequently rummaging.) Recently I was watching a videotape made of my son at school. During part of the tape the children were having snacks. Sam was eating rice cakes, sitting directly next to a child who was eating a chocolate covered donut. I can't think of anything that could be closer to torture for Sam, whose favorite food in the world would probably have to be donuts. Although he is autistic, he is aware that eating a "regular" donut would likely cause him to get sick, and he is very good about his diet. He did ask his teacher "can I have that? is it a regular donut or special?" when the kid set it down. He was told he couldn't have it. Anyway, a few minutes later you see him get up and clean up his snack, throw away the bag etc. The donut eater had already done the same. Then, as SAm is passing the table on his way to another part of the room he grabbed a large donut crumb from the table and shot it into his mouth!!!! It was large enough to see clearly on tape. The teacher saw it too and made him spit it out. But it makes me wonder how many times something like this ISN'T caught. He knows better, but he's only six, and he is autistic, for heavens sake. I guess my point is that as careful as you are, there are times when you do ingest gluten. Certainly for kids this can be a "sneak" and for adults it can be inadvertent. But I do wonder if sometimes there is an inadverent lapse that occurs close (in time) the ingestion of something else which gets blamed (such as buckwheat, inhaling wheat dust, etc.) Lisa