CON O'ROURKE,
Sir, - Darina Allen was once famously described by Prof Tom Raftery of UCC as "biologically illiterate". Unfortunately, this is borne out by her recent guest lecture at the Waterford Institute of Techology (The Irish Times, September 27th).
Ms Allen states that "we as a people are now living on the inherited good health from our ancestors which was attributable to the quality of food they consumed". We pass on to our children a random complement of our genes; this is unaffected by whether we are rich or poor, well-fed or half-starved. We and our descendants are not what we eat.
Ms Allen also believes that "good organic food is worth every penny paid for it - it is not a luxury, it is a necessity for good health". Plant nutrition is an entirely inorganic process and thus no significant or consistent nutritional differences have been found between conventional and organic crops grown under otherwise identical conditions. It is up to Ms Allen to back up her beliefs with firm evidence from the only creditable primary source we have i.e., the peer-reviewed, internationally circulated scientific and medical literature. - Yours, etc.,
CON O'ROURKE, Park Lane, Sandymount, Dublin 4.