Correspondence

Insight on the News, Sept 10, 2001

Adler Tradition Continues Its Positive Influence on Students

The Torrey Honors Institute at Biola University in La Mirada, Calif., is a school in the Mortimer Adler tradition ["What Happened to the Great Ideas?" Aug. 27], and we're proud of it!

Our 280 students easily are as gifted as those at any other school -- the average SAT score in the incoming class is better than 1,350 and their combined grade point average hovers at 4.0. But most importantly, our students are screened for character and a desire to pursue goodness, truth and beauty. All of this is accomplished in an intellectual atmosphere of a conservative university pushing 5,000 students. Phillip E. Johnson, author of Darwin on Trial and a law professor at the University of California-Berkeley, recently commented that Torrey students get a better education than he did at Harvard University in the 1950s.

Many parents assume evangelical colleges are "conservative." This is sometimes the case but often not. While my wife was a student at Wheaton College, the faculty protested the visit of then-vice president George H.W. Bush. Things have not gotten better. But at Torrey this would not be a problem. Both the former president and his son would be welcome here!

Dr. John Mark Reynolds
Director
Torrey Honors Institute
Biola University

Opening Highways to Mexican Truckers Is the Road to Ruin

Your piece on Mexican truckers having access to U.S. roads nationwide ["Mexican Truckers Ready to Hit the Open Road" Aug. 13] omitted two important aspects of this issue.

One is the strong probability that some of these trucks will be carrying more than their legitimate loads, including drugs and human cargo, into the United States. These truckers almost certainly will be bribed or even threatened by smugglers and traffickers to carry drugs and illegal aliens. Some will think it worth the risk, considering that only a fraction of the incoming trucks will be inspected.

Second, once the border is open, the number of trucks coming into the United States each day will increase greatly from around 12,500 per day to some unknown but very large number. This will mean that tens of thousands of U.S. truckers who previously took over loads from the Mexican truckers will be out of work.

Pauline Keehn
Woodland, Calif.

FDA Clarifies Guidelines for Manganese in Infant Formula

References to the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) "guidelines" for manganese in infant formula in David Goodman's article ["How Safe Is Soy Infant Formula?" June 25] are inaccurate. Current FDA regulations require a minimum of 5 micrograms (0.005 milligrams) manganese per 100 kilocalories of infant formula to meet the nutritional needs of infants. No maximum limit has been established at this time.

The FDA has not yet determined if there will be a change in current regulations in the near future. The FDA will base any changes in regulations on nutrient composition of infant formulas on available scientific evidence. It will consider recommendations of the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine (part of the National Academy of Sciences) and of other scientific bodies when reviewing the nutrient requirement for infant formula.

Dr. Christine J. Lewis
Director
FDA Office of Nutritional
Products, Labeling and
Dietary Supplements

Editor's Note: For decades, nutritional scientists reported manganese concentration in infant formula as milligrams per liter. FDA guidelines permitting a minimum of 5 micrograms "per 100 kilocalories of infant formula" allow greater amounts of manganese than found in human breast milk.

Write: Insight, Correspondence Editor, 3600 New York Ave. N.E., Washington, DC 20002. E-mail: editor@insightmag.com. Fax: (202) 529-2484. Please include an address and daytime phone number. Letters may be edited for space.