Pubdate: Tue, 7 Aug 2001 Source: Globe and Mail (Canada) Copyright: 2001, The Globe and Mail Company Contact: http://www.globeandmail.ca/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168 Author: Charles B. Chapman Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01.n1440.a05.html MSG A-OKAY London, Ont. -- Matthew M. Elrod (Prohibition Redux -- Letter, Aug. 6) compares the addictiveness of cannabis to that of tobacco and also to the hazards encountered in mountain climbing. I can accept that, but he also suggests that monosodium glutamate (MSG) belongs in the same range of comparisons. The World Health Organization, the Scientific Committee for Food of the European Commission and the FDA in the United States have all concluded that studies have failed to confirm the toxicity of MSG. According to the School of Public Health at the University of Calfornia in Berkeley, it is possible "that a few people might be sensitive to MSG if they swallow a huge amount of it without food." Charles B. Chapman - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake