Letter: Chicken legs

Sir: I can only assume that fruit flies are yukky already as the yuk factor was not heard as a response to experiments some years ago that caused legs to grow where a fly's eyes should have been. Contrast the outcry over the "sinister" four-legged chicken (letter, 16 March).

Is confusion over chickens being a food source and the panic over GM foods obscuring what might have been intended as basic work in cell development, providing an insight into cancer growth? Somewhere along the way the chain of the scientist's duty to explain, the science journalist's obligation to report clearly, and the public's requirement to gain a basic understanding of science has seemingly broken over this issue.

MARK TREGLOWN

The Open University

Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire