Re [“Safely Clean?,” April 28]: Kermit was wrong! It's easy being green if your motivation is pure profit. What's hard? Identifying what's safe. I think some manufacturers are just making more dirty laundry.

There should be new rules in a green revolution -- transparency and full disclosure.

Nancy Chuda

Los Angeles







I am disturbed that one of the topics was mixing one's own green chemicals. I have been in the cleaning chemical business for over 20 years. It never ceases to amaze me how many people think they can play chemist.

The article should not reinforce the notion that people with no chemistry background should be smarter than their own good.

Adam Kline

Arcadia

Pillow covers are working for them

We read your article [“Dust Mite Hype,” April 21] with zeal because my daughter and I both have rather strong allergies to dust mites.

The publication measured patient outcomes using a hard endpoint: asthma attacks. This may be a good metric from a scientific standpoint. There are other endpoints, however, that are important to patients' quality of life, such as sleeping through the night without coughing. I can tell you from experience that thorough vacuuming and use of high-quality dust mite pillow covers makes a tremendous quality-of-life difference in our family's lives.

These cost-effective activities may not decrease serious asthma events, but we would conclude that they affect lower-level asthma and allergy problems. Since damage from chronic inflammation of the lung appears to be cumulative, any interventions to decrease it should be encouraged.

Marker Wiegand

Pacific Palisades

For starters, put a warning on salvia

Salvia divinorum ought to at least have an accurate warning label [“Salvia: The Legal Herb,” April 28]. I would also favor an additional tax on it to help discourage heavy consumption and also to help the public police the enforcement of its sales (provided it becomes law that a person needs to be 18 or over to buy it).

Stephen V. Hymowitz

Los Angeles

Teen gyms need to stretch farther

With the epidemic of obesity, it is great to see that there is going to be a place where teens can feel comfortable getting their workouts [“Working Out — In ‘TheirSpace,’ ” April 28]. However, there needs to be a push to put these types of places in areas where teens of a lower socioeconomic status can afford to join also.

Cathy Nguyen

Daly City