I GENERALLY don't mind Dawn O'Donohue's articles in the Mail, but I found the latest (September 23) about vegetarianism confusing, misleading and, in parts, wrong.

I fail to see what having small babies has to do with the subject. My sister – a massive meat eater at the time – had a baby weighing just 1lb 2oz (now 6ft tall).

Unlike Dawn, I find factory farms and slaughterhouses 100 per cent repugnant.

Her facts on biological evolution (teeth) are totally wrong and there is a lot to this subject. For example, our colon is designed for the slow passage of vegetable matter, when most meat-eating animals have a short colon designed to expel the dangerous gases from the meat.

I think differently to Dawn and would feel guilty about eating a pig (more intelligent than a dog) that has "lived" a life of suffering and misery.

I think things have improved fractionally and vegetarians are no longer "nutters", and the five million-plus in this country (as opposed to the 100,000 when I became veggie in 1979) let people know they aren't putting a strain on the health service. Aren't causing global warming. Aren't causing pollution. Aren't involved in world starvation and dreadful animal abuse.

S Broom,

Ings Road Estate,

Hull.