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I have thought well of Angela Rumbold’s judgement, on scientific matters,
ever since she became a minister in the Department of Education and Science,
but then, she is the daughter of the late Harry Jones, one of J. J. Thomson’s
team at the Cavendish Laboratory.

Now she is at the Home Office she has referred the laboratory care and
management of cephalopods to the Advisory Committee of Animal Experiments.

Gail Vines’ article on experimental octopuses (This Week, 8 June) prompted
me to tackle Rumbold about the subject. Octopuses and squid do not have
to an anaesthetised in laboratory experiments and the conditions they are
kept in are not controlled.

Rumbold says that in the past, ministers doubted whether cephalopods
‘experience pain or other forms of suffering’ in laboratory experiments,
despite being ‘highly organised neuro-physiologically’ and ‘behaviourally
sophisticated’. Therefore these animals have not been covered by the 1986
Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act.

She says that the matter is now under review. ‘If it is the committee’s
judgement (that) the scientific evidence now makes it appropriate to bring
cephalopods within the controls of the 1986 act we shall take the necessary
steps . . . ‘

* * *

As A student I was one of the thousands who filled sandbags to try and
combat the flooding in East Anglia in 1953, so I know how formidable a storm
can be. Roger Milne’s article on how ‘soft engineering’, and in particular
bringing back salt marshes, could help to keep out the sea and prevent a
repetition of 1953 prompted me to raise the matter with the Ministry of
Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. I was reassured by Lady Trumpington’s response.

She says that the ministry realised some years ago that the loss of
salt marshes on the Essex coast was contributing to coastal erosion. As
a result MAFF contributed £1 million to improve our ‘understanding
of natural coastal processes.’

She says: ‘That research continues, for we not only need to understand
the process leading to the loss of salt marshes, but also how their reconstruction
might be encouraged.’ She says that MAFF wants an approach that ‘recognises
and uses nature’s own ability to withstand the ravages of the sea.’

* * *

From Wellington, New Zealand, a stern rebuke comes from J. C. Bone for
using the phrase ‘proverbial tooth-comb’. In future, I promise to refer
only to a comb with fine teeth.

* * *

Christopher Bell, aged 11, and some 40 of his school friends in Bathgate,
wrote to me about the plight of the rhino, urging an end of the trade in
rhino horn. They asked me to convey their concern to the ‘correct authorities’.

The correct authority, in this case, is Tony Baldry, a junior environment
minister. He says that trade in rhino horn is banned.

He also says that the government is helping a number of countries, such
as Kenya, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, to curb the activities of the rhino poachers.

I just hope that by the time this generation of children has grown up
there are some rhinos and other rare animals left to protect.

* * *

Good luck to the International Council for Bird Preservation, in its
attempt this Saturday (24 August) to break the world record for pavement
painting in Trafalgar Square in London. A team of 20 artists is aiming to
create the largest-ever pavement painting – a 30 by 18 metre portrayal of
an Imperial Amazon Parrot.

The parrot lives in the rapidly vanishing rainforest of Dominica. In
1989 the council bought nearly 100 hectares of the forest. It now needs
to raise £500 000 to manage this forest as a nature reserve and help
ensure the survival of the Imperial Amazon Parrot.