Petty EU leaders
from which the nuclear DNA has been removed. This is similar to the technique of cloning which has been shown to have many problems.
This gives rise to several ethical concerns. Chief of these is that any genetic changes would be passed on to offspring. This alteration of the germ line has so far not been specifically allowed in any other country because of its unpredictable effects.
Also, it has been shown in lower animals that faulty mitochondria are often still present and so far the interaction of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA is not fully understood. No testing has been done on primates.
It is rash for the HFEA to give the go-ahead for this in the present state of knowledge. It would be preferable to research the possibilities opened up by gene-editing for treating these diseases. REV DR DONALD MACDONALD
Blackford Avenue, Edinburgh Now that we can see the true nature of EU leaders’ attitude to the Prime Minister, no doubt many Remain voters will realise exactly how these people behave when they think they have the whip hand.
However, the UK has been one of the countries which has supported the EU’S profligacy and overpaid, unaccountable apparatchiks who now routinely insult us.
Their attitudes will, no doubt, change when the cornucopia of billions coming from British people dries up. Mrs May should make it plain that we will not tolerate their attitude and they, even more than we, depend upon our mutual trade.
ANDREW H N GRAY Craiglea Drive, Edinburgh Like Fraser Grant, I, too, noticed Teresa May being given the cold shoulder at the recent EU conference, but I took a very different message from that little cameo. How pathetic to see adults – our selfstyled political elite – behaving like spiteful children: “We’re not speaking to you!”
Given the facts that Mrs May did not call the referendum, did not campaign for it, and has been given a difficult job to do as a result of the referendum vote, one might hope that they could rise above personal unpleasantness. GRAHAM M MCLEOD
Muirs, Kinross