IN reply to John Blunt's remarks on the Mad Cow plague (LET, March 27), he obviously has no idea what he is talking about.

In the 1970s, the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food gave permission for animal feed compounds to include meat and bone meal products as a source of protein.

At this time, there was no requirement for raw materials used in the feed to be declared other than oil, protein, fibre and ash.

Therefore, there was no way farmers knew what was being put into the feed. In the 1980s, it became a legal requirement to state raw materials by category, not by individual products.

If anyone is to blame for the present day plight farmers find themselves in, it is the so-called experts of MAFF who gave the all-clear for meat and bone products to be used.

Contrary to what John Blunt says, farmers are, generally speaking, conscientious, hard-working people, who care a great deal about their animals and what they eat.

Money is not the only thing they think about, but, obviously, they will require compensation if their means of earning a living is taken away from them.

One thing the public tends to forget is that British agriculture is the most efficient in the world and, as a nation, we should support farmers and not try to ruin them.

D YERBURGH PARRINGTON, Commons Lane, Balderstone.

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