YOUR Opinion (LET, June 20) on the BSE debacle was a load of codswallop, typical of what is becoming media hysteria without reason.

Was not the purpose of Britain's withdrawal of co-operation in Europe to concentrate the minds of the EU politicians who, for months, refused to talk or negotiate?

This is now happening due to that action so that in itself must be a victory.

What would be a more successful proposition than that of Tony Blair's food agency would be a selective culling policy - of old media hacks and out-of-date politicians so that we have factual news, not propaganda.

In recent times, we have had panic and scares over salmonella, listeria, baby milk contamination and the BSE nonsense.

Yet where are the screams about skin cancer which has increased by 100 per cent in 10 years, causing 40 deaths a week?

Surely, this is a more important matter than any of these improven and over-stated hypotheses about food safety.

With the BSE scare panic is apparent. The Italians are not eating their own beef; the French and Germans likewise.

So who are we to believe - the news media, or the World Health Organisation which says British beef is safe?

WALT MEADOWS, Whalley New Road, Blackburn.

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