YOUR article concerning Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (LET, November 13) and ITV's World In Action programme rightly highlighted the beef scandal.

Although the specified offals are now removed from all beef carcases over six months of age, and headsplitting takes place in a separate area of the slaughterhouse, the question remains 'Could beef meat itself be infectious?' The true answer is: 'We don't know.'

But, it is obvious that thousands of infected animals must have gone through the normal slaughter process in the last few years: they simply have not reached the terminal stages of the disease when symptoms manifest.

It seems foolhardy to suppose that humans might be resistant.

It has long been suspected that Government knows more than they are letting on. They refuse to implement the radical action necessary to curb BSE, by culling every herd showing signs of it, because they fear to dismantle the two huge and profitable industries: the meat and dairy industries.

Man stands condemned for allowing the feeding of animal remains to natural herbivores such as cattle. Surely common sense should have told us this was a recipe for disaster?

Man may also stand condemned to decades of distress and suffering if we are in fact incubating this disease in our bodies. This is a tragedy which has yet to be concluded.

CAROL DUGGAN, Area Contact, Compassion in World Farming, Cardigan Avenue, Oswaldtwistle.

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