The feature on agricultural scientist, Bruce French, published in The Mercury newspaper (see latest news item of 8 August 2012) prompted a letter to the editor of that newspaper by reader, John Tindall.

The letter is reproduced here with the consent of the author.

Thank you for running the story of agricultural scientist Bruce French in the Saturday Magazine (Mercury on Saturday, August 4).  I found the story informative and uplifting. This story deserves to be run on the front page not tucked away in the Saturday Magazine (no offence intended to the magazine).  A lifetime of dedication to the cause of feeding people the world over.  Identifying and using existing natural food sources and providing key information without any financial gain, puts this man up there with gold medal and Nobel Prize winners.  How he has maintained his focus is amazing and inspiring.  He is subjected to the indifference of our Government and others, who are no doubt more impressed with big food business interests and the gains each can make from pushing each other’s barrow.  Our Government could allocate a few million dollars of aid funding to get the information Mr French has produced to the people of the world, who could really benefit from it and in one relatively simple action make a big difference.
John Tindall – Deep Bay, Tasmania, Australia