In this article, Assoc Prof Parinya Thaivichaigarn suggested the increased incidence of cancer in Thailand was caused primarily by the diets of Thai people changing, due to Western influences. "We have changed from eating Thai foods to Western foods and we're having diseases they have in the Western world," he is quoted as saying.

This has got to be the most ridiculous statement I have heard regarding cancer. I suppose eating unhygienic food on the side of the road - where bus fumes and pollutants can land on the food, and utensils are washed in the same bucket of water for hours - has no bearing on the rise in cancer.

It's all simply because of "Western food" and "Western lifestyles". Let's not even mention all the other substandard hygienic levels that are all around us - let's just blame it all on "Western food" and go back to eating Thai food. Surely that will help to eliminate cancer from Thai society. After all, it's really just a Western disease - it's a discriminatory disease that usually targets non-Thais.

Boggled in Bangkok

Bangkok

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Economic implications warn against creating new province

Re: "New province 'to honour King'," News, August 30.

If Cha-am, Hua Hin, Pran Buri and part of Sam Roi Yod were taken away from both Phetchaburi and Prachuap Khiri Khan, it would likely cause quite substantial damage to the economies of the two provinces because these places earn a huge amount of tourist income, especially for Prachuap Khiri Khan.

I am not sure whether caretaker Interior Minister Kongsak Wantana is considering this matter carefully. The selected areas were actually dominated by Democrat MPs during general elections held in 2001 and 2005. It could be assumed the government is planning to set up this new province to be under control of the ruling party, which is the same logic behind their latest plan to set up a new province around the new airport.

KT

Bangkok

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Bomb-plot taking focus away from long list of PM's scandals

I wonder why all Thai newspapers continue to cover Thaksin's diversions, like the recent "plot to kill him" with a crude mixture of various explosives that weren't even primed. After all, Thaksin and his spin doctors have been known in the past to divert attention away from topics that could really hurt his image, such as the fraud case William Monson is bringing against him, the Kularb Kaew probe or an investigation into how his supporters appear to beat up anyone who doesn't agree with him.

Where are the follow-up stories on the election fraud case against Thai Rak Thai, or more recently his military reshuffle that was obviously intended to put his men in vital positions in Bangkok units, regardless of their military abilities? What about the upcoming disaster of the early opening of the Suvarnabhumi Airport, which is sure to harm the local economy, especially the tourism sector, just so he can claim the new airport as his own personal achievement? The money for that project, including the scanners that caused a scandal, came from our taxes. It is obvious there are many stories and scandals that should take priority over the workings of spin doctors. This alleged bomb plot deserves a five-line paragraph on page six, or even a spot on the comics page.

Phuyai Lee

Bangkok

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Education undermined by class sizes, low pay for teachers

Two fundamental factors that undermine education in Thai schools are student-teacher ratios and teacher compensation. Implementing the following two policies would improve the quality of education drastically and quickly. First, limit the student-teacher ratio to a maximum of 25 students per teacher per class, which would thus not require a teaching assistant. Increase starting salaries of teachers to at least Bt12,000 per month up to a maximum of Bt35,000, based on seniority and performance, plus health and retirement benefits and regular professional enrichment activities, such as seminars, training, observation visits, etc.

Of all the investments any government at any level can make that will yield the greatest possible return to society as a whole and increase tax revenues, education ranks first. "Free" public education should mean exactly that: all costs covered. The current government claims public education is free, but it is not. Parents must pay all kinds of charges and costs.

Teachers have huge classes, probably averaging nationwide - especially in cities - for both public and private Thai schools from 40-60 students per teacher per class. How can a teacher get to know each student, give each student an opportunity to ask and answer questions or permit students to engage in classroom exchanges among themselves? The only choice a teacher has with such huge classes is to lecture as fast as they can go, trying to cover all the material in the course syllabus. How fatigued and demoralised the teachers must be. A ratio of 25 students to one teacher, while still high, does dramatically change the educational experience for both the teacher and the student.

Many teachers must work outside the school to make enough money just to survive, because their salaries are so low. Paid properly, they could be available after class hours to help students and guide extracurricular activities. This would virtually eliminate the need for tutorial schools and give Thai children a chance for a real childhood.

A Long-Term Expatriate

Bangkok

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Article left out Israeli killing of civilians in Lebanon war

Re: "Western guilt hides the nature of extremism", Opinion, August 30.

The article by Shelby Steele was as fantastical as it was fawning. In essence, the author claims Israel is the innocent victim of the West's past history of imperialism in the Middle East. The facts of the matter are these:

Israel deliberately targeted innocent civilians in its recent war with Hizbollah. This is called murder and terrorism, two labels that the West - and especially the United States - refuses to attribute to Israel, no matter how terrible its crimes against humanity.

Next, the Israelis are always too stingy in their land offers to the Palestinians (because the American government never puts pressure on Israel to make the painful concessions needed for peace), and of course the Palestinians always refuse such miserable terms.

Shelby Steele is disturbing proof that Americans are in the dark about the Middle East, because they let people from "think-tanks" do the thinking for them about that region. As long as this continues, the racist, extremist nature of Israeli society will always be hidden from America.

CM Phillips

Bangkok

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Analysis succinctly summed up true nature of Hizbollah

Re: "Western guilt hides the nature of extremism", Opinion, August 30.

My compliments and thanks to The Nation for publishing the article by Shelby Steele on Hizbollah, Israel and anti-Semitism.

It provided a truly succinct and intelligent commentary on all three. Steele's description of Hizbollah as a group of nothing more than hate-filled "warriors" says it all and leaves very little room for comment from others. Those closet anti-Semites masquerading as critics of Israel, all of whom seem ill-informed and whom I see in these columns from time to time, will not be pleased with the definition of anti-Semitism on their part being a lack of acknowledgement of their own inadequacy. The small handful of well-informed, reasoning Israel supporters will take as much pleasure from it as I have.

David Ross

Bangkok

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Religious fringe out to hijack research that could save lives

Re: "Stem-cell technique is not as positive as suggested", Letters, August 30.

The issues involved in stem-cell research seem to be pitting scientists against religious or ethical fundamentalists. In my view, one of the major moral issues of our times is one of saving lives and relieving suffering. To judge it more dignified to throw excess embryos away or steam them to death rather than use them in valuable medical research is beyond belief. Scientists are often denigrated whenever the religious fringe wants to scare the public into opposing valuable front-line research that involves genes or embryos.

The vast majority of scientific researchers work tirelessly for the benefit of mankind. They work long hours in their quest for better ways to diagnose and cure major human diseases. They have enough barriers to overcome in their work without the likes of the right-to-lifers, anti-abortionists, anti-vivisectionists and their ethical fundamentalist fellow travellers implying they are committing fraud or are murderers carrying out Frankenstein science by evil means.

I might add that there have been many comments in the press by eminent scientists to the effect that the work letter writer Paul Kokoski refers to may not solve ethical questions - it is mainly the press that hypes up such claims, not the scientific community itself. The fact that they have "failed to produce a single, unqualified, therapeutic success even in animal models" and yet still support the methodology, as Kokoski claims, is essentially what medical research is all about. It's about breaking down barriers and visiting new places where novel solutions to major medical problems can be found, despite the failures and resistance along the way. And yes, ethics are carefully considered in all these endeavours and benefits weighed against risks. But many opponents seem to have deep problems in realising what the real ethical issues are all about.

Peter Moseley

Bangkok