I just received this important message regarding gluten free food labeling from the Jules Gluten Free newsletter and would like to pass it on. Please read, offer any support you can and help spread the word!
"How sure are you that the product you're about to pay for won't make you sick, and compromise your special weekend plans?
How sure are you that you won't be putting your child through the mental and physical stress of a gluten contamination you promised you'd help him avoid at all costs?
We have peanut-free airplane trips now, when someone alerts the crew to an allergy - and rightfully so.
We've clear labeling for eggs, wheat, dairy and the other five top allergens, and rightfully so.
The fact that clear, federally established and monitored regulations for gluten-free food labeling don't exist is a slap in our collective faces. More stringent and clearly stated regulations exist governing catching trout than exist to protect those of us whose physical wellbeing depends on eating gluten-free!
More stringent and clearly stated regulations exist governing catching trout than exist to protect those of us whose physical wellbeing depends on eating gluten-free!
The worst part? The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was tasked 7 years ago with developing and implementing such standards as part of the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA).
It's bad enough when acquaintances, talk show hosts and others label gluten free as some kind of "fad" or another vain attempt at weight loss. The FDA's inaction does our cause no good, to be sure.
For millions of Americans, this disregard for our health is a big deal. And we're doing something about it.
I've teamed up with a few creative friends to create a large-scale, newsworthy event to draw attention to the need for federal gluten-free food labeling standards. It's the first Gluten-Free Food Labeling Summit.
At the Summit on May 4th, in Washington, D.C., we will unveil the World's Tallest Gluten-
Projected to tower more than 12 feet tall, this gluten-free, dairy-free cake will symbolize the Big Deal that federal gluten-free food labeling standards mean to the estimated 3 million Americans living with celiac disease, and the more than 18 million Americans living with gluten-intolerance.
21 million Americans! I'd say that's a big deal!
We need your help to make a Big noise about this Big event.
1) Visit our website, 1in133.org and read about the unprecedented leadership within our community behind this event.
2) Lend your voice, by signing our petition.
3) Make a donation of $11.33 for each of your loved ones that eat gluten free (this helps defray the significant costs of staging such a massive undertaking - the remaining funds will support our community's own American Celiac Disease Alliance (ACDA)).
4) Send a letter to the FDA, with a few clicks, right from the1in133.org web site.
5) Please, please, ask everyone you know to put themselves in the shoes of someone who buys and prepares meals for a loved one whose health depends on fair and clear labeling. Ask them to support our cause for those on a medically necessitated gluten-free diet that keeps them from the litany of symptoms and consequences of eating gluten.
6) Post this to your Facebook wall, Tweet about it, ask your local health food store to publicize it in the gluten-free aisles, on their community bulletin boards in their very next email blast, on their web site, etc.
This event is just 5 weeks away!
The FDA has given us an example of inaction. We must show them that members of the gluten-free community are passionate, committed and vocal - and that we will NOT be dismissed or overlooked."
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