Is It Dangerous To Be Standing Around In Or Near Fields Of Wheat?

[Pyro]

http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/5417/vlcsnap268705sn2.webp

They are kind of hard to avoid in eastern Europe. Should I be worried or just play it cool?

[Gentleheart]

Airborne wheat/barley/rye/oats (gluten) should do you no harm just touching your unbroken skin. That's not the problem with it. But if you breathe in the grain dust, it combines with the mucous in the mouth, nose and back of your throat. When you swallow, you aren't even aware that you have just "eaten" gluten. It may be a very small amount, but depending upon how sensitive you are, it still might be enough to produce a reaction. I don't see any way to avoid it other than to wear a covering over your mouth and nose, which isn't very practical. Similar problems can occur in restaurants which handle a lot of grain flour like pizza places or handmade pasta places or even in the flour aisles of grocery stores. There can be a lot of residual grain dust in the air and on most surfaces. It usually won't hurt you to merely touch it (although several people with DH might debate that), but if you then absentmindedly put your fingers in your mouth for any reason, you've just been potentially glutened again. Try not to become too paranoid with this and get silly about it. But those are the facts to the best of my knowledge.

[DakotaRN]

Thanks for the info because the same thought crossed my mind. I live in ND, a lot of these small grains are grown here and I do live in the middle of nowhere surrounded by grain feilds.