THE destruction of forests and the pollution of the oceans, injures and kills countless numbers of our fellow beings, the simple-minded pursuit of progress at any cost is resulting in the extinction of entire species of plant and animal life every year.

It is necessary to awaken the senses towards the global life of our planet and not only human life.

Parents and teachers must share in the responsibility to nurture the created earth. A new sensitivity is emerging in public opinion, especially among the young.

Genetic engineering and related research has important social implications and environmental effects that are impossible to foresee and yet much of this research is carried out behind a veil of secrecy.

The ethics of the medical profession are still ruled by a purely instrumental conception of animals.

They are only considered in terms of usefulness and advantage for human beings. This is the attitude which still prevails.

The conception in which man is at the top and stands above everything else is no longer justifiable.

SHEILA BRENNAN (Mrs), Bombay Street, Blackburn.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.