Keeping us safe from ... baking soda

To the editor:I spied an interesting article regarding the regulation of the sale of baking soda. A Democratic state representative in St. Louis feels this frightening ingredient should be held under lock and key in the pharmacy department due to its part in concocting crack cocaine. I went to my cupboard and stripped it bare of baking soda. I transferred it to a locked strong box for fear I would overmedicate myself and/or my family when baking my next batch of chocolate-chip cookies.

After I placed all of my baking soda under house arrest, I contacted the rest of my family to do the same. My mother's reaction was to go to the grocery store to buy up all the baking soda before the hoarders got there, and to get there before the feds. I hope we won't have to visit Granny in the slammer.

My hope in penning this letter is to inform others of the imminent danger of using this dangerous substance. Think of the lives that can be saved from a lifelong addiction to cookies, cakes, lemon blossoms and other life-threatening baked goods. As always, we are so lucky to have Big Brother looking out for our welfare.

So, sleep well, good citizens, knowing that soon another dangerous product will be removed from our grocery-store aisles. And, Morley, if they ever place cocoa under house arrest, you better beef up your staff, because if you ever take chocolate out of the hands of the general populace, you WILL have a drug war on your hands.

KATHY BERTRAND, Cape Girardeau