Letters (Spotlight Weekly)

Traffic Troubles

The cover story “Road To Hell?” (SPOTLIGHT, March 26) provided a departure from the overload of political stories that appear in most of the newspapers and magazines these days. Traffic accidents also claim hundreds of lives every year and should deserve no lesser attention. Authorities must step up efforts to address this problem. They could start by enforcing the traffic disciplines stringently. Lack of discipline is evident everywhere in our roads. When there is chaos on roads, accidents are inevitable.

Laxman Bajgain
Hattisar

Curb Corruption

It is seen that in streets of Kathmandu, many people ride their vehicles even without license (“Road To Hell?” SPOTLIGHT March 26). And when traffic cops notice this, they again go scot-free by paying bribes. This practice is dangerous and must be ended immediately. To encourage people to get license, first of all the procedures to obtain licenses need to be simplified. Corruption in offices that provide license must also be checked. If that happens, then no one will want to ride vehicles without license. A person with license tends to be aware about road discipline and traffic regulations.

Rita Bista
New Baneshwore

Risky Riding

Apropos your cover story “Road To Hell?” (SPOTLIGHT March 26), it is clear that motorcycles are the most dangerous forms of vehicles in Kathmandu. But, unfortunately, they are the most used forms of vehicles. Because they are relatively cheaper, most middle-class families prefer motorcycles. It is good that the authorities have strictly enforced the provision of helmet usages both for the riders as well as pillion riders. To lessen the accidents of motorcycles, the authorities, now, need to come up with other ideas as well. As the chief of valley traffic police office is reported to have said that drunken driving is an emerging problem, the authorities need to curb this practice.

Dinesh Shrestha
Kalimati

Conserve Crocs

The issue of crocodile (“Crocodiles’ Concern” SPOTLIGHT March 19) raised in your magazine was an interesting one. It is most unfortunate that endangered species of crocodiles are facing jeopardy due to lack of funds. Since preservation of biodiversity is not a domestic issue, even the international community should come forward to help Nepal in this regard. Since Nepal is currently suffering from internal insurgency, its attention is divided and its commitments to protect wild life could not be met due to scarcity of funds. There are so many INGOs, which are working in the sector of biodiversity conservation. Such organizations need to come forward to help Nepal at a time like this.

Sameer Karki
Naxal

Response To Sharma

Thanks Krishna Prasad Sharma for pointing out that biomedical research on monkeys can result in progress in human health (“Letter To Editor” SPOTLIGHT March 5). This argument is usually used by institutions and individuals who support animal research. However, in reality breakthroughs in medical science are rarely made through animal research. BBC scientists recently investigated the benefits of such research, only to find that much of the tests on animals are poorly conducted and not thoroughly evaluated.

Also, what is often forgotten is that biomedical sounds good, but in reality means great suffering for the animals involved. In order to test medicines for cancer or HIV/Aids, the animals are first injected with the disease. Most do not survive, or live miserable lives undergoing continuous radiation, chemotherapy, or other cruel treatments till they breath their last. Even if the medicine works in monkeys, it does not necessarily work in humans. These are some of the reasons why a number of European countries and India have banned the use of certain species in biomedical research, including monkeys. Also, biomedical research does not only cover life-threatening diseases but any kind of test inquisitive researchers like to conduct. A recent publication by the International Primate League found that 250 monkeys, while undergoing bioterrorism experiments in the US, died extremely violent deaths, many of them caused by sheer carelessness. They died not from lethal doses of biological warfare agents, but simply from dehydration or bleedings caused by inserting instruments. The public will have to decide whether it wants Nepal's sacred species to end up in American research labs, and be subjected to such kind of suffering.

Monkey Business Campaign Team
SPCAN/Animalnepal.org