You write

RE Colette McCormick's letter (Has Jan 21) regarding cancer.

Where's the evidence that scientists are closer than ever to finding a cure? Cancer kills more people in the UK than ever before. Death rates from the major cancers have nearly all increased over the last two decades. Cancer is today the second largest killer in the western world after heart disease.

Clearly the approach of the mainstream, scientific establishment to this problem, including a reliance on animal experiments isn't working.

Human tissue produces more reliable results and no suffering to animals. It can be donated by patients undergoing biopsy or surgery. Arrangements can be made for samples to be used after a person's death.

Even by the pro-animal experiments lobby's own criteria, it makes no sense to breed and kill so many animals each year for tissue research when an alternative exists that can actually be trusted.

If we compare tests on two closely related species - mice and rats - the results show how inaccurate these experiments can be. If results from one rodent species cannot be reliably extrapolated to another, how can one expect such studies to be relevant to humans? - Name and address supplied.

BABYSITTING

RE your Ask the Expert question (EchoWoman, Dec 27 and Jan 3) may I remind Pat Springer that a 'loving grandmother' has rights too.

Your reply in answer to the baby-sitting problem is typical of many young so-called experts of today.

Perhaps it doesn't occur to you to put the older generation's point of view. I have seen many tired, worn out, babysitting grandparents.

Have all the young people forgotten that grandparents have brought up their own children and probably held down a job too? Surely they are due a life and interests of their own while they are still young and fit enough to enjoy their lives.

I realise the grandmother in question was only too willing to help. Perhaps your attitude should have shown a measure of concern and thoughtfulness towards the older generation and not be continually concerned with what's a best for mother and baby.

Speaking personally, I love my grandchildren and children very much indeed and would babysit for them any time but refuse to be a permanent child-minder. I'd end up having a permanent creche in my house.

At the age of 68 I feel justified in spending time with my husband and on my own interests while we still have a measure of health and fitness. - B Box, Bishop Auckland.

TAIL DOCKING

NONE of our MPs would deliberately smash a dog's tail and leave it a bloodied mess.

Yet a proposal to ban tail docking for working dogs threatens exactly that for hundreds of thousands of animals; dogs such as the docked springer spaniels which provide much of the security at Westminster and thousands like them working in confined, awkward spaces to detect explosives, smuggled drugs or to locate disaster victims.

Hundreds of thousands of working dogs are used to flush and retrieve game birds and to track injured deer. Spaniels and pointers are particularly vulnerable to tail injuries which can leave dog and owner distraught and the animal facing amputation. MPs who support a complete ban on tail docking in the Animal Welfare Bill risk misunderstanding the welfare implications for working dogs and causing unnecessary suffering.

The British Association for Shooting and Conservation calls on all working dog owners and handlers to lobby their MPs. The solution is simple: a qualified veterinary surgeon should have the discretion to dock a working dog early in life, if they are satisfied it is in the animal's best interests.

The surest way to rouse a person's anger is to hurt their dog. Banning the preventative docking of working dogs would do just that. More details can be seen on our website at www.basc.org.uk - Simon Clarke, The British Association for Shooting and Conservation.

HEALTH TRUSTS

ALAN Milburn has every right to be passionate about the primary care trust (PCT) reorganisation in Darlington (Echo, Jan 16).

But it would be disappointing if his role in the Darlington debate overshadowed other aspects of the proposal, such as the merger of the five PCTs serving County Durham into one trust for our area.

Reorganisation provides an opportunity dramatically to improve patient care in communities. Not only would it redirect £2m a year from management and administration to front-line patient care, but it would also support the wider NHS reforms of integrating health and social care, empowering local GPs and providing greater patient choice.

If we are to join up health and social care then social services authorities need to work with a single PCT. In Durham that means a trust aligned with the administrative boundary of the county council.

The current map of five PCTs does not align directly with any other public services. A shift to one PCT would create a body with the capacity and purchasing power to provide local doctors with a broader range of good value services.

We have worked with PCTs to deliver tangible improvements in patient care for some of our most vulnerable people. We have demonstrated the value of integrating health and social care at the local level. We believe a new trust should retain that local focus to protect the progress made - not least in better funding for Easington.

We have every hope that this would continue under the proposals. Given that local people and communities would benefit from this, I hope that the County Durham aspect of these proposals goes through. - Coun Christine Smith, Cabinet Member for Social Care, Durham County Council.

SECOND FACE

I READ with interest Ed Southgate's letter (HAS, Jan 24) and, on looking at the picture, I could see the face he referred to.

But take a closer look and there is another face to the right of the horse's withers, peeking around the branch of the tree.

Isn't imagination a wonderful thing? - ME Harris, Darlington.

RE Ed Southgate's, letter about the man's face in the photograph.

I also saw the man in the picture but did you notice the second man's face at the far top left, under the tree branch.

Please let me know if you spot him. Intriguing isn't it? - A Morley, Darlington.

ELECTED MAYOR

I COULD not agree more with Mark Anderson (HAS, Jan 26) about having an elected mayor.

The present way of holding office is unfair. The newly elected can really promote the town and the people.

I agree even more that if he or she puts a foot wrong - vote them out.

The people of Darlington should hold a referendum despite what the opposition says. I can't see what the problem is. - Stephen Beaton, Darlington.