(3 of 8)
Every dairy farmer in the rest of the world realizes that "there but for the grace of God go I." It would be an unprecedented example of human brotherhood if each major dairy farmer outside Britain donated just under 2% of his herd to keep British farmers in business. Everyone would suffer a little, and no one would be wiped out by this tragedy. British beef could once again be consumed without fear. If nations can come to the rescue of others by waging war, why not a peacetime offensive? If animals can be shipped to zoos, it is certainly possible to ship cows to Britain. IRENE HOBSBAWN Willowdale, Canada
Gee, it looks as if flatulent cows are contributing to global warming and their hooves are destroying the earth's soil. It sure is a good thing that we killed off all those buffalo years ago before they did any more damage. DONALD OSTERGARD Drumheller, Canada
If the planet can no longer afford cows, it's just another sign that the human population is becoming an unbearable burden for the planet. So long as exponential population growth continues, we can do away with all cattle only to postpone the inevitable catastrophe for a few years. AKSEL WALDORFF Frederiksberg, Denmark
Mad-cow disease could turn out to be as serious a threat to mankind as AIDS. Nobody expected back in 1980, when just a few cases of AIDS were reported, that it would become such a grave and global problem. The E.U. feels sympathetic to Britain and wants to lessen its economic loss by possibly killing fewer cows than is necessary to eradicate the disease. It shows a good spirit to want to spare economic hardship, but this must not override the real concern about a potential large-scale spread of the disease in humans. Once the genie is out of bottle, it is hard to put it back in. The potentially contaminated beef may reach Third World countries. There is no shortage of corrupt politicians who want to make big bucks at any cost. The whole world has shrunk to the point where there are no secure borders. ANWAR UL HAQUE Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia Via E-mail
FACTORY OF MASS DESTRUCTION
Libya's Muammar Gaddafi is among the great manipulative villains of our time. Your article warns us that he is building the "world's largest underground chemical-weapons plant" to produce nerve gas [WORLD, April 1]. Industrialized and developing countries are equally threatened by megalomaniacs playing with the most destructive gadgets man has ever created. Democracy is threatened, and the superpowers seem as powerless as banana republics. HELENE THIBAULT Ottawa
My only question is, why are only so-called civilized countries like the U.S. allowed to produce and stock chemical weapons? These are means they have used themselves in the past. Who is the CIA to constantly interfere with, disrupt and implement the overthrow of sovereign country leaders? MARY CAMPBELL Toronto
MACHINES AND THE HUMAN MIND