Sir, - David Begg (January 10th) cites four reasons with a degree of validity against John Teeling's proposal to export beef made available through the BSE slaughter scheme to famine-stricken countries - although I imagine our potato-deprived forebears would have managed whatever meat they could lay their hands on 150 years ago!
Mr Begg then proceeds, however, to what I believe is his real objection to John Teeling's proposal: "If we accept that people are entitled to food as a fundamental human right, then we should not seek to given them what we would not eat ourselves." Correct! Except that enormous numbers of cattle throughout Europe are now being slaughtered, not for reasons of health, but to boost markets and to maintain confidence in a flagging beef industry.
I have no fear of infection from the healthy Irish cattle that have begun to crowd slaughterhouses and, in all decency, those who are starving should be given first refusal - bearing in mind the logistical difficulties Mr Begg has mentioned. I greatly admire David Begg's work and his longstanding commitment to the Third World, but I believe the wanton destruction of healthy animals is obscene and Mr Teeling's proposal should at least be given an airing.
Having just crossed the Grange Road to purchase The Irish Times, I realise that my exposure to serious injury by vehicles was exponentially higher than that of debilitation through the consumption of any amount of Irish beef. - Yours, etc.,
Austen Corcoran, Pine Valley Avenue, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16.