Laura Slitt [01/25/2008]

To the editor:Regarding cloning:I am so grateful that my local paper, unlike larger corporate papers and radio, still allows this basic form of democracy. Major media avenues refuse to bring the assault on animals and nature to light. Why?In my letter, Jan. 18, about cloning, I was remiss in not including a website to research information. For more information on cloning and food safety, please go to the Organic Consumers Association website: www.organicconsumers.org, and look at the topics in the left hand column. You can still contact the Food and Drug Administration, and your local and federal "representatives," to make sure this stuff is labeled, or better yet, stopped. The simple question I ask, is this; Why did the U.S. Department of Agriculture use millions, maybe billions, of our tax dollars, funneled through its ARS, Agriculture Research Service, in Nebraska, and university research, to create them, if they claim they are exactly the same as non-cloned? The money would be far better spent on helping states fund education and wholesome school food. If children were nourished properly, from conception, we would not have these behavior and developmental problems soaking up huge dollars.Learning about the health, spiritual, and environmental benefits of adopting a vegan diet is the best answer of all.Here's one line from an article on cloning from the Organic Consumers Association site;"Consumer, food safety, and animal welfare groups have condemned the announcement, pointing out that animal cloning is inherently unpredictable and hazardous, and that the practice of cloning has led to a high number of cruel and painful deformities in the experimental animals' offspring."Hardly what I'd consider the basis for culinary art.