Quality of Porcine Life
Re: “The Next Pig Thing”
11/05/01

I enjoyed the article about the Enviropigs, but Vestel missed one important aspect: What about the quality of life for the pigs? Pigs are intelligent, sentient creatures and no one seems to be interested in the quality of their lives before being murdered. Perhaps our focus should be on getting people to eat less pork, thereby reducing the need for factory faming conditions. Let’s give a bit more thought to our fellow species.

Alan Temes


Phosphorus for us?
Re: “The Next Pig Thing”
11/07/01

Are there health concerns about the phosphorus that humans will be consuming if the pigs are not excreting it? I assume it would remain in their tissue. It sounds like their diet does not really suit them.

Cindy Marks


National Delusions
Re: “The Next Pig Thing”
11/01/01

Spending millions of dollars only to achieve a few half-answers is a symptom of serious national delusion. The problem is economic, not scientific: Instead of the traditional farm, where the waste from farm animals goes into the soil with excess vegetable matter to form high-grade compost, Guttenberg/ Ford style factory “farms” are now the order of the day. We keep searching for answers to our biological and ecological crises through technological tools, but this simply ignores the real problem.

Christopher Muir

 

Get Karimov
Re: “Inside Uzbekistan”
11/05/01

Islam Karimov is a ruthless dictator who uses his governmental power to torture and kill those who practice their religion. He and his colleagues, who infest the country’s higher political echelon, are too busy taking bribes and robbing the country blind to govern. We must always put people first and fight for human rights. Karimov must be held accountable for his crimes against humanity.

Fay Ozaltin

Media Freedom
Re: “Squelching the News in Democracy’s Name”
11/08/01

Our democracy is not so fragile. We lost a lot of freedoms during the Second World War, but all that was turned around as soon as the war was over. The American people are not simpletons and idiots. We are a highly educated and independent citizenry and aren’t likely to lose sight of our rights overnight.

Charlotte Cranberg