Parents don’t need to be sneaky to get children to eat nutritiously
Re: [“Picky Eaters, Sneaky Parents,” June 23], I found this article interesting and disturbing. Parents secretly putting things (even if it’s broccoli) into their children’s food without their knowing it? When they grow up, I wonder what they’ll think of that?
Seems a trust is broken here, and I’m not sure it won’t affect food issues these children may have down the line.
Delicious is key where food and children are concerned. If a parent wants to get a child to eat fruit, he or she can wash, chop and freeze fresh strawberries, then take a blender and pour in one cup of fat-free milk. Add three packages of artificial sweetener. Add four or five frozen strawberries, and blend. Keep adding strawberries until you have a thick, luscious strawberry milkshake that could stand toe-to-toe with any fast-food shake you’ve ever had.
Or make a fat-free broccoli dip and toast whole wheat tortillas for chips. What kid won’t eat chips and dip?
Kitty Stallings
Burbank
Not all marijuana is that strong
Government claims of highly potent pot must be taken with a grain of salt [“Booster Shots: Marijuana More Potent Than Ever,” June 12]. Even by the University of Mississippi’s admission, the average THC [the primary psychoactive ingredient] in domestically grown marijuana -- which comprises the bulk of the U.S. market -- is less than 5%, a figure unchanged for nearly a decade.
The average strength of imported cannabis has grown in recent years. Nevertheless, non-domestic marijuana comprises only a small fraction of the domestic market, particularly here in California.
To imply that this rare, unusually potent cannabis is reflective of what is typically available on the U.S. market is highly (and purposely) misleading.
Currently, doctors may legally prescribe an FDA-approved pill that contains 100% THC, and, curiously, nobody at the University of Mississippi or at the drug czar’s office seems particularly concerned about it.
Paul Armentano
Deputy director, NORML and the NORML Foundation
Washington, D.C.
Marijuana More Potent Than Ever
Asking that one key question
The June 23 My Turn essay [“With One Question, a Routine Exam Becomes Anything But”] was extremely interesting and well-written.
The only pertinent comment I can make is that in my 32 years of ob-gyn practice since finishing my training at Harbor/UCLA (like the article’s Dr. Bill Parker, whom I know), I also have asked my patients that same question about spotting on hormone replacement therapy and likewise have diagnosed several very early uterine cancers. However, unlike Bill, I still have insurance contracts.
Dr. Michael L. Friedman Torrance
