Letter: Llamas' collective
As Llamas are such graceful beasts (in all but manners) I was delighted
to read that they may soon widely adorn the British landscape (‘Europe’s
farmers plough a new furrow’, 8 December 1990). However, I was alarmed to
learn of the cost of these gracious creatures – about 10,000 Pounds each.
Like-minded readers may therefore find comfort in a recent article in
The Veterinary Record (19 January 1991) which describes ‘successful pregnancy
following non-surgical embryo transfer in llamas’. Such technology, coupled
to advances such as ’embryo sexing’ and ’embryo splitting’ which are proving
so useful in cattle breeding could bring livestock prices down and encourage
the adoption of these majestic mammals.
We will then, of course, need a suitable collective noun of for them,
as ‘herd’ reflects neither their nature nor intelligence. Any advances on
a ‘conspiracy’ of llamas?
Leighton Jones Evesham Worcestershire.
Letter: Safety management
An uninformed reader of ‘Safety: the perils of self-regulation’ might
be forgiven for concluding that the powers that be and their executive arm,
the Health and Safety Executive, has been less than wholehearted in promoting
and enforcing safety (Talking Point, 12 January). It would be much fairer
if the positive achievements of the last 17 years were also recognised.
Government and the HSE are well aware that the promotion and enforcement
of safety demands much more than reliance on individuals and management.
Proper management control of safety is important as is the provision of
proper safety systems. Once those systems are in place, there must be periodic
audits to ensure that those operating the systems know what they are doing
and are prepared to do it.
Accidents will still happen. The human factor is a main component in
90 per cent of cases, and in 70 per cent proper management effort might
have prevented them. A good deal of money and effort is therefore going
into study of the human factor, which should ultimately lead to further
reduction of accidents and risk.
The Hazards Forum was set up in 1989 by the engineering institutions
to assemble and exchange ideas on the management of risks and hazards. It
is working closely with HSE, and has been impressed by the progress made
since 1974 in moving towards a much more thorough understanding of the real
reasons for major breaches of safety, and of how to make them less likely.
Officialdom does care, and is having some success in ensuring that a better
informed management cares and will shoulder its responsibilities in ways
appropriate to the 21st century.
Frederick Warner, Chairman Hazards Forum London.
Letter: Star cross
How unfortunate that Adrian Furnham’s interesting article on the reasons
for the popularity of astrology and graphology should close with the exhortation
to ‘ .. beware .. the astronomer’ ((‘Hooked on horoscopes’, 26 January).
I trust that this is nothing more than a proof-reading error. Nonetheless,
it does nothing to help clarify the confusion, which so many people still
display, over the difference between the non-science of astrology and the
science of astronomy. Many bookstores, in particular, foster this confusion
by displaying books on the two subjects side by side.
As a keen amateur astronomer I take a dim view of being mistaken for
a fortune teller!
Jeremy Phillips Loughton Essex.
Letter: After Chernobyl
Brian Wynne’s article gave a good account of the farmer’s viewpoint
of ‘official’ science and the general problems of scientific communication
and credibility raised by the aftermath of Chernobyl (‘After Chernobyl:
science made too simple?’, 26 January). However, both the photograph, caption
and the subsequent text leave open the issue of whether Sellafield was,
or was not, the cause of the elevated radiocaesium levels measured in Cumbrian
sheep after the Chernobyl accident.
While I accept that this is still an open question in the minds of many
local farmers, I thought the article should have been more explicit about
the scientific consensus on this point. I have corresponded with a number
of individuals and organisations including the National Farmers Union and
a local MP.
While I have not pretended that pre-Chernobyl data are extensive, there
is compelling evidence about soil and grass contamination in the Cumbrian
uplands before and after Chernobyl, based on research and monitoring by
the Atomic energy Authority, the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, and BNFL.
Levels of caesium in upland grasses increased dramatically after Chernobyl,
while the ratio of caesium 137 to 134 fell dramatically to a value characteristic
of Chernobyl fallout. After the event, my group at Sellafield managed to
identify a sample of pre-Chernobyl Herdwick mutton from Eskdale (which had
been preserved in a freezer). It had a caesium 137 concentration of only
4 becquerels per kilogram.
S R Jones Head of Environmental Studies British Nuclear Fuels plc Risley,
Cheshire.
Letter: Female circumcision
Your article on female circumcision was indescribably moving and horrifying
(‘Female circumcision: fighting a cruel tradition’, 2 February). Will you
please publish the address of organisations fighting this barbaric practice,
to where we can send contributions and support?
Alison Bowers Edinburgh Scotland.
For more information write to: FORWARD, Africa Centre, King Street,
London WC2.
Letter: Centrifugal thoughts
I have always believed that the critics of relativity are all crackpots.
But now that John Gribbin has made it known (Letters, 26 January) that the
term (and presumably the concept) ‘centrifugal force’ is favoured by the
relativists, I am beginning to have second thoughts.
T S Harriss London.
Letter: Pencil pushers
Like Roy Herbert in review of The Pencil: A History, I had grave misgivings
about the interests of such a lowly item (Review, 26 January). When my children
attempted to drag me into the Cumberland Pencil Museum in Keswick I started
to devise a list of silly museums – corn plasters of the world, Peruvian
nose flutes, or some such other daft idea.
But what a revelation it turned out to be. It was thoroughly well laid
out, with fact-sheets for the kids – including free pencils – exhibits dating
from the earliest times to the present day and the entrance was through
a mock graphite mine. We gave them full marks for originality.
The Phillips Family Brighton East Sussex.
Letter: Cold fusion
I enjoyed Frank Close’s review of cold fusion but would like to mention
a simple explanation of Fleischmann an Pons’s results which does not seem
to have been discussed (‘Cold fusion: the discovery that never was’, 19
January). I was in Brookhaven shortly after the announcement; copies of
their first report were being passed around and avidly perused, so I am
familiar with the data. The salient points were as follows.
An outer cylinder of platinum was used as the anode, with a rod of palladium
on its axis as the cathode. After an electrolysis current had been passed
for about three months (to charge the palladium with hydrogen), a small
excess of heat was observed of the order of one watt or less. This only
occurred while the current was flowing. Three different palladium rods were
tried of various diameters; the thickest rod gave by far the greatest effect.
Presumably, the anode remained the same (no change is mentioned), so with
the thickest rod the spacing between anode and cathode would have been the
smallest.
The explanation is as follows. The palladium cathode was charged with
dissolved hydrogen. More ‘nascent’ hydrogen was being liberated by the electrolysis.
A few millimetres away ‘nascent’ oxygen was also being liberated. Undoubtedly,
the bubbling oxygen would have come into contact with palladium. Both platinum
and palladium are excellent catalysts, so the reaction most probably observed
was H2+O=H2O, a well-known liberator of heat. One
would expect this to occur most readily when the anode and cathode spacing
was small.
Some emphasis was given to the fact that one night, while the electrolysis
was running, the apparatus exploded. Many of us have seen minor accidental
explosions, usually attributed to a short circuit. In this case the presence
of oxygen and hydrogen mixed in the optimum proportions, could well have
compounded the effect.
Francis J M Farley Le Masage, Le Bar-sur-Loup France.
Letter: Treating wounds
With reference to Eric Jenkins’s letter (19 January), I would hope that
there should be no place for the use of hypochlorites in the treatment of
wounds. Much evidence now exists which shows the hypochlorites inhibit collagen
synthesis and cause irreversible damage to the micro-circulation. Furthermore,
hypochlorites attack the cell walls of bacteria, releasing endotoxins, which
are absorbed. The toxins are nectrotoxic to renal tissue (Schwartzmann reaction),
and produce a range of side effects, from mild uraemic toxaemia to acute
renal failure. I would suggest that a 1 per cent solution of providone iodine
might be a safer alternative.
A Johnson Darlington Health Authority Darlington, Durham.
Letter: After Chernobyl
As author of the article, I would like to correct one or two impressions
which your abridgement from the original, much longer, article may have
given the reader.
In particular, though I noted that the farmers distinguished between
different scientific sources, they credited scientsits at the local Institute
of Terrestrial Ecology at Merlewood with more openness about the scientific
uncertainties. This is doubly important because it indicates a more positive
conclusion about the general challenge of public communication of science
– there is something to learn from this example.
Secondly, though it is true that most farmers we interviewed reserved
special contempt for the MAFF scientists from Whitehall because they understood
little about marginal hill farming, and worse they did not appear to think
they needed to know, local MAFF officials (not scientists) in the Carlisle
Division Office were a completely different case. They were highly regarded
by the farmers, both for their local knowledge and their strenuous efforts
to have this knowledge understood and used by the MAFF scientists in Whitehall.
Again, the positive message which can be drawn from this part of the whole
episode ends up buried by default.
Brian Wynne University of Lancaster Lancaster.
Letter: Endangered plants
I applaud Leigh Dayton’s report on the growing need for more comprehensive
approaches to the loss of biodiversity (‘On the sowing of the species’,
14 January). But I have often felt that the concern expressed over this
issue is actually only addressing those problems associated with animal
species. Plants are more frequently absent from such discussions.
Unfortunately, this article only reinforces my previous observations.
I counted 78 independent references to biodiversity in the article, more
than half of these not distinguishing between plants and animals. This clearly
shows that the article is addressing both kingdoms.
Of the remaining references, 35 per cent deal distinctly with examples
of fauna, leaving a paltry tenth of the references to indicate that the
flora of our planet is under threat from extinction as well.
The emphasis on animals as endangered species may take its roots from
the historical preferences of naturalists and scientists. The list compiled
by the World Conservation Monitoring Centre, details 311 species that have
perished since 1600. It is beyond chance that all of these species also
happen to be animals; plants, perhaps inhabiting the same regions as these
animals, have disappeared without even the briefest of epitaphs.
Allocating a disproportionate amount of resource on well-studied, high
profile species is certainly easy, but may well prove to be inefficient
when documenting the majority of life inhabiting our planet, and the attempts
at dampening the current rates of extinction.
D S Hammond University of East Anglia Norwich Norfolk.
Letter: Evolutionary message
I would like to point out three errors in the review of my book The
Scars of Evolution (Review, 19 January). The book does not ‘ignore the fossil
record altogether’, but devotes a chapter to it. It does not have the ‘hidden
purpose’ of supporting the aquatic theory; that is its declared intention.
And I have certainly never represented myself as the ‘creator of a radical
idea’. The radical idea was proposed twice, independently in Britain and
Germany by two highly esteemed professional scientists, Alister Hardy and
Max Westenhofer. I happen to believe they were right.
Elaine Morgan Mountain Ash Mid Glamorgan Wales.