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Cloning for the single purpose of making a copy of another person goes in the opposite direction of evolution. TERRY FRANCOISE BORETTI San Jose, Calif.
Six percent of your poll respondents think cloning is acceptable to create genetically superior humans. I don't want those people reproducing at all. JANICE LINDGREN Marshalltown, Iowa
I'm concerned that the people who seek the predictability, perfection and control that they imagine cloning offers will be the least able to cope with a malformed, sickly or disabled child, which is a not an unlikely outcome. I fear that human cloning could create a third class of humans--the unwanted, imperfect results of people's ultimately selfish act of attempting to reproduce themselves. Society could face a grave problem with how to care for such individuals. DORIS ULLMAN-HINDRICHS Lynden, Ont.
A Continent Under Siege
I commend you for your article on AIDS in Africa [SPECIAL REPORT, Feb. 12]. The writing was beautiful and moving. The AIDS pandemic here in South Africa is a greater Goliath than apartheid was. And on the wider continental front, we who live and labor in Africa and love this continent fear that this plague could be our undoing unless extensive help reaches us from other countries. Thank you for making that appeal. But as critical as outside help is, especially for the millions of victims, the even greater responsibility lies within Africa to teach, preach and practice safe sex. Unless the AIDS scourge is headed off at its source, namely rampant sexual promiscuity, no TIME special reports or outside help will halt the impending calamity. MICHAEL CASSIDY INTERNATIONAL TEAM LEADER AFRICAN ENTERPRISE Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
TIME has focused the world's attention on the scourge of AIDS in Africa. There is urgent need for all mankind to sit up and take notice of the epidemic, not only for charitable and humanitarian reasons but also practical ones. Given the fact that contacts among people of different countries and continents are frequent and close, the plague is bound to spread all over the globe unless action is taken to contain and eradicate it. While the onus lies on the governments of the countries concerned to educate the masses and create awareness about how to prevent TIME, the West can chip in with the funds required for treatment of patients. Further, concerted efforts are imperative to develop a vaccine as well as a cure for AIDS at affordable prices. AJIT PRATAP SINGH Ludhiana, India
Taking It to the Streets
Your article on the ousting of Philippine President Joseph Estrada [WORLD, Jan. 29] accurately described how a crowd of a few hundred thousand people claiming to represent the country could distort a democracy. I never participated in any of the rallies--not because I am an Estrada supporter but because I believe the impeachment trial represented a legal and more civilized means for justice to be meted out. I was surprised and disappointed when this process was discontinued; we've now ended up in an untidy limbo of a new, unexpected government in the hands of a leader who was sworn in by prosecutors, Senators and the protesters who pointedly ignored the laws that protect every Filipino's right to justice. MAYA RIVERA Makati City, the Philippines
Still Sharp as a Tack