WITH monumental patience and tenacity, scientists have discovered the complete human genome, enabling the medical world to be in a position to correct Nature's faulty or missing genes in developing embryos. This will give millions of people a better life, free from painful, cruel and crippling diseases.

In addition, using relatively newly-discovered knowledge of genetic engineering, Dolly the sheep was cloned and scientific discoveries proceed at an ever-faster pace, giving promise of a better life and certainly a longer one for many.

In the knowledge of all this, it is unbelievable, in this day and age, to see thousands of otherwise un-cloned Dollys, along with other domestic farm and other food animals being slaughtered and incinerated.

Surely one would have imagined that after going through all of this in the 1967 foot and mouth disease outbreak, 30 years on, a scientific method of detecting and overcoming this disease other than the wasteful and traumatic killing and destroying, would have been developed.

Destruction is a 'hit and miss' way of trying to stop the spread of the infection as the vast majority of the animals being slaughtered from the time of the discovery of the outbreak will surely be free of the disease.

At the time of the cloning of Dolly and any subsequent clonings, couldn't a genetic immunisation to the virus have been implemented? After all, it has been stated that there is a vaccine against the disease but by using it, we would lose our status as a producer of food animals.

However, a built-in immunisation for future animals might obviate this, ending this nightmare, for that's what it is for most farming people.

In another direction, one might be given to thinking that there could be ways of detecting the virus so the location of it could easily be traced. However, let us hope that someone finds a way of combating this disease in a more scientific way so that in another 30 years, the nation doesn't have to go through all this yet again.

ALBERT MORRIS, Clement View, Nelson.