Letter: Animals in research

Sir: As a diabetic, I owe my continued existence to the "exploitation" of animals for research in the original work on insulin and, until recently, for insulin production. Advances in genetic engineering and computer modelling are to be encouraged in the quest to reduce the use of animals in medicine but there will, I suspect, always be a need for final safety testing on animals before the usual human trials.

However, if scientists are pressured into ending animal testing altogether, will the oh-so-compassionate Ms Carla Lane volunteer to have the safety test carried out on her? Or does she, like a campaigner I once encountered, regard me as "selfish" for putting my life above that of the beasts of the field?

JON SUTCLIFFE

Enfield, Middlesex