It would appear that Jim Crawford (Oxford Mail, September 24) would rather listen to the sound of his own rhetoric than any common sense.

As he is so certain of his ground, perhaps he would like to stand up and tell us all that at no time has he ever benefited from any form of surgery, antibiotics or drugs developed over the past 50 years.

If he can honestly say that no animal-tested product has aided either him or his family throughout his life, I will listen to anything he has to say.

There is perhaps a profound irony in the fact that on the day his letter appeared, another incendiary device was discovered on Oxford University property targeting the proposed laboratory.

Two weeks ago, a national newspaper revealed that a co-founder of Speak had been arrested for taking such devices into a laboratory.

If this is really the level of debate Mr Crawford considers either intelligent or useful to his cause, he is sadly deluded.

As I wrote, I would rather leave the questions relating to medical research to biochemists, geneticists and the like.

As I am not a scientist, I don't consider it my place to interfere on subjects I have no real concept of.

I am sure there probably is a body of research demonstrating that non-animal models are reliable, but given the way science functions, it is either still hypothetical or hasn't reached the "proven safe" stage as yet. I don't think anyone is stupid enough to state that animal experimentation is perfect. There are risks involved, just as there would be risks involved with non-animal models.

I think those who are arguing the case against, need to establish a proven track record as valid as the one established over the past 50 years.

That, in the end, would be far more convincing to the intelligent layman than sky-high rhetoric, exhumed corpses, fire bombs and "victory parades", demonstrating that the human capacity for self-delusion is, indeed, immeasurable. ALAN PAGE ,Iffley Road, Oxford