Letter: Trust science not maverick scientists

Kenneth R. Shaw
Sunday 31 March 1996 00:02 GMT
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Letter: Trust science not maverick

scientists

THE assertion by Hamish McRae, referred to by Alan Watkins ("There may be no cure for foot-in-mouth disease", 24 March) that farming "is the sole industry exempted from market forces" is false, but I could be persuaded that farmers do share this distinction with motorists.

The M11 Link Road proposal, for example, was never subjected to a commercial appraisal, but like most road schemes it was given cost-benefit analysis (Coba 9) treatment instead by the DoT which also proposed it, assessed it and gave its approval to the scheme. These Coba results are available from the same DoT and anyone capable of simple arithmetic can see from them that at best they are pounds 50,000 below, or at worst more than pounds 8m below, the DoT's own requirements.

Kenneth R Shaw

Woodford Green, Essex

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