<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> N>we N>give the FDA nearly enough credit for the great improvements in ingredient N>and nutritional labelling that have occurred in the past ten years. (I N>think President Bush deserves a lot of credit having appointed Dr. Kessler N>to head the FDA, and President Clinton, for having re-appointed him.) N>Having been diagnosed as a celiac almost two years ago, I am now painfully N>aware of some glaring flaws in food and drug labelling requirements. N>However, when evaluating FDA's role in this process, we should consider N>the N>political environment in which FDA functions. I work in the California N>state capital (Sacramento) in the area of regulatory law, and have some N>experience observing the dynamics of government regulation. My suspicion N>is that, in Washington, D.C., the FDA is under pressure from the Congress N>elected in 1994 to REDUCE government regulation of food and drugs. My Nonsense; President Bush and Dan QYale were responsible for quashing recommended labelling legislation. Dan Q. led a committee composed of FDA, NHI, and selected Civilian advisors. Elaine Hartsook of Washington STATE Gluten Intolerance Group was one of the advisors who had tried to get proper legislation for years. She was devastated by the failure of the committee to get proper action. The FDA and NHI supported Dan Q. Sufferers of Celiac lost out. Celiac Disease is not a food allergy. Please don't put us down! The molecules of grain proteins work like rat poison on our systems! People with occult symptoms may be worse off than those with overt symptoms. Long range destruction of villi can lead to lymphomas and peripheral neuropathy, along with other auto-immune disorders. Do we deserve this? We are human, too. Let the FDA test people for their staff and hire the ones who pass the I.Q. tests, not those who fail. Or is it cupidity, not just stupidity, that leads them astray? "Only humans" come in many forms. AMS