Balloon menace

SIR – The BBC has been criticised for screening a clip which showed hundreds of balloons being released into the air (report, April 4).

I was recently walking along the strandline of our local beach and picked up what I thought was a fish lure. This turned out to be a plastic tube, adorned at one end with a length of curly ribbon, and at the other with bits of blue shredded balloon. It was just the sort of thing that could attract fish, turtles or seals.

When balloons are released into the sky over Britain, they do not have to travel far in any direction before they are drifting over the sea. Additionally, helium gas is a valuable and finite resource. Once in the atmosphere, it is lost forever. Jo Lapthorn

Kingsbridge, Devon