Fears over Ukraine's 'radioactive' milk are exaggerated

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Recent research claimed milk in areas around Chernobyl remained contaminated by radioactive material (iStock)

You recently reported on research by Scientists from the Greenpeace Research Laboratories at the University of Exeter and the Ukrainian Institute of Agricultural Radiology, headlining your piece “Ukrainian Cow Milk Has ‘Five Times Safe Level of Radioactivity’, Study Finds” (8 June 2018).

I should like to make clear that it is wrong to conclude all Ukrainian milk is being dangerously contaminated.

What’s more, Ukrainian authorities have set the permissible concentration of radioactive caesium in milk at 100 Becquerel per litre. This should be considered in the context of the European Council’s Regulation (Euratom) 2016/52, which sets out the maximum permitted levels of radioactive contamination to be applied following a nuclear accident or other radiological emergency. In this regulation, applicable to EU member states as of January 2016, the maximum permissible level of radioactive contamination of dairy produce is set at 1,000 Becquerel per litre.

The Ukrainian system of control is highly efficient and no evidence suggests that Ukrainian dairy products deviate from EU limits or standards.

Natalia Galibarenko
Ambassador of Ukraine to the UK

Make nurses exempt from tuition fees to improve the NHS

As a lawyer living with my girlfriend who is a nurse, Eleanor Busby’s recent article (“Student loans system forces nurses to pay back £19k more than lawyers”, 12 June) caught my attention. The article highlighted the additional, and often forgotten, cost for graduates on middle-earning incomes of not only paying back their student loan, but also the 6 per cent interest on the amount.

However, the examples given in the article also make me question why we are charging nursing students in the first place? The NHS is the largest employer of health professionals in the UK. While law, accounting and engineering graduates might find themselves in the public sector, a lot go into private practice. Nursing (as well as other clinical based graduates) are quite unique insofar as the large majority will immediately go into the public sector, so the taxpayer will directly benefit from their training and will be directly disadvantaged if there is a shortage.

If the government agreed to write off the debt for nurses based on NHS service, it would start to solve some of the issues public health is facing. More students would want to join the nursing profession and there would be greater retention of younger staff – which in turn would lead to a reduction in the costly agency bills currently being paid to help fill the estimated 33,000 vacancies the NHS is struggling to fill. Ultimately, patient safety and care would improve.

Irrespective of which side of the fence people are on in the tuition fee debate, not charging for certain degrees in which the UK has a shortage of professionals makes economic sense.

Paul Kelly
Chesham

SNP antics won’t convince Scots to back independence

The SNP MPs practically danced out of the House of Commons on Wednesday during PMQs, making no attempt to hide their delight at snubbing their noses at the UK government – or in the case of Mhairi Black, jabbing her finger. Apparently some people have been stirred to sign up to the SNP as a result, yet Nicola Sturgeon knows that in all likelihood pantomime political antics will not move general public opinion in Scotland, which continues quietly but determinedly to favour the UK that she tries so hard to undermine.

Keith Howell
Scottish Borders

Should Lib Dems steel themselves for government?

Everyone remembers David Steel’s message to Liberal activists in 1981: “Return to your constituencies and prepare for government!”

It seemed a tad optimistic at the time but now the Lib Dems, on the strength of relegating the Tories to last place in Lewisham East, can try a new line: “Return to your constituencies and prepare for a return to government!”

Or would that be a bit of a mixed message?

Steve Ford
Haydon Bridge

Scotland’s mental health strategy needs more focus on prevention

The recognition by the Scottish government that mental health should be at the heart of any public health strategy, as outlined recently in its priorities for public health, is to be greatly welcomed. However, these words must be matched by actions, and this includes a much greater focus on prevention and early intervention in the face of a greatly increased demand on services.

It is estimated that around three children in every classroom has a clinically diagnosable mental health problem and 50 per cent of mental health problems are established by the age of 14 and 75 per cent by the age of 24.

However, less than 0.5 per cent per cent of total NHS expenditure is spent on specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).

In addition to increasing investment in CAMHS, preventing mental health problems through building personal resilience during childhood and adolescence is essential. This includes the need for greater education and support within schools.

In this context, all secondary schools should also have a qualified and appropriately experienced counsellor, providing support to troubled and/or distressed children and young people, including those with mental health difficulties. Scotland is currently the only UK country with no national strategy for school-based counselling services.

Investing a fraction of the mental health budget on school based counselling services helps to keep children in school and avoid unnecessary and often stigmatising mental health diagnoses, as well as reducing the burden on the already stretched and costly CAMHS provision.

Scottish Children’s Services Coalition 
Tom McGhee, Chairman, Spark of Genius
Duncan Dunlop, Chief Executive, Who Cares? Scotland
Stuart Jacob, Director, Falkland House School
Niall Kelly, Managing Director, Young Foundations
Lynn Bell, CEO, Love Learning Scotland

Happy Eid!

Alone amongst the three, monotheistic, Abrahamic religions, Islam has scripture, the Qu’ran, that is described as containing the “beauty of God”. The Hebrew Bible and the Bhagavad Gita rarely receive such specific compliments. To qualify, the Qu’ran is only considered as such in the original Arabic, where its poetical quality and meaning is sublime. In the English translation, some of the beauty is lost.

Islam is one of the six main religions of the world, and is practised across multi-faith Britain. It is a religion that has contributed substantially to world (and UK) culture. From bathroom tiles, Taj Mahal architecture and astronomy to mathematics, chess and more. If you can fill out your betting slip, thank a Muslim, specifically Al-Kharzami of Baghdad, who in the 9th century had the genius of inventing the zero (missing in Roman numerals) and adding it to the Dravidian numerals from Hindu India. The result was the number system we use today, arriving in England in the 12th century courtesy of Fibonacci.

So, we owe a lot to Islam, in Britain, and this weekend we acknowledge the celebration of the Muslim community, with the declaration of Eid-ul Fitr, and the conclusion of the Holy month of Ramadan. Happy Eid, to all the faithful!

James Zambonini
Royston, Herts