LETTERS

Mad Cow article incomplete

As a UCLA student studying abroad in Britain this year, I enjoy
reading the Daily Bruin online and keeping up on events happening
back home. I was distressed to read the article on Bovine
Spongiform Encephalopathy and foot-and-mouth disease
(“Mad Cow has contributed to British problem with
agriculture,” Daily Bruin, News, April 11).

While the article gives accurate information concerning BSE, it
fails to explain the steps taken by the British government to
combat the disease or properly differentiate BSE from
foot-and-mouth.

A few of these government measures are: (1) a ban on feeding
cattle sheep parts; (2) once a cow reaches 30 months of age, its
meat cannot be used for human consumption; and (3) any cattle
suspected of having the disease are killed. These steps have cut
the rate of infection.

The brunt of the epidemic occurred in the mid-’90s, and
interest revived with the outbreak of foot-and-mouth. Given the
long incubation period of the disease, these steps appear to have
worked in stemming the outbreak, and it will eventually be
eradicated. Other European countries have not adopted these
procedures and now face crises of their own.

And although foot-and-mouth affects the ability of cattle to
eat, leaving a thinner less valuable animal, it is not harmful to
humans.

So while these diseases are detrimental to the British economy,
a tourist arriving in England will not be stricken with a terminal
illness.

Any article spouting the dangers of beef in England should
include the steps being taken to combat them.

Also it should be made clear that foot-and-mouth and BSE are not
the same thing.

Michael Provenzale Third-year History

Men victims of discomfort too

It is said that when the only tool you have is a hammer, every
problem looks like a nail. Columnist Peijean Tsai took her hammer
of “sexism” to the world of clothing
(“Sexist patterns revealed in spring fashion scene,”
Daily Bruin, Viewpoint, April 13).

So the “idea that style should rule over comfort” is
“sexist”? Try wearing a necktie. “Men are allowed
to dress comfortably all year long”? Maybe on Tsai’s
planet, but not here.

She should try wearing a suit with a long-sleeved shirt, jacket,
and tie on a 90-degree L.A. summer day. She will envy the women
allowed to wear short-sleeved lightweight clothing.

By Tsai’s definition that discomfort equals
“sexism,” men are victims of sexism too. And if
everybody is therefore a victim of sexism, then maybe the whole
concept is just silly. Coming to college and learning the
vocabulary of oppression doesn’t relieve anyone of seeing
truth in the real world.

Mark Leinwand UCLA extension student