Q. How much of a danger is salomonella to recipients of egg donation?

A. No more than the average person.

Q. Then why are FDA inspectors spending their time in IVF centers monitoring egg donation records while members of the public are dying from salmonella infection?

A. It's because a well-meaning Congress assigned the FDA to monitor the infectious disease screening of egg donors, taking hard-working FDA inspectors who are trained to inspect food out of the henhouse and putting them into our offices. We have had FDA inspectors in our offices for a week on several occasions making sure all the t's are crossed and i's dotted instead of monitoring food and drugs. FDA are the initials for the Food and Drug Administration and what egg donors have to do with food or drugs is beyond me.

In fact, in an article in todays's Los Angeles Times, only half of the scientists surveyed at the federal agency responsible for monitoring the safety of the nation's egg supply have full confidence that their organization adequately protects consumers from food-borne illness in eggs — and that was before the recent salmonella outbreak.

I say let's get the FDA inspectors out of the fertility centers and back into the henhouses to really help protect the public.

Arthur L. Wisot, M. D.