IS this a whole new can of worms? Maybe more accurately a can of genetically modified worms? I understand that the UK Department for Food and Rural Affairs, Defra, started a consultation immediately after we left the EU in early January about the possible introduction of genetically modified (GM) food into the UK. My understanding is that GM food is specifically banned in Scotland, as it is throughout the EU, but widely used in the United States. The Prime Minister is on record as saying he wants to "liberate the UK bioscience sector from anti-genetic-modified rules" and we know that a trade deal with the US, including agricultural products, is being negotiated, so we can see where his priorities lie.

I have heard arguments for and against GM food and although this can be confusing, many would say say it’s up to individuals if they eat GM food or not. Unfortunately, it’s now not as simple as that, so I seek some factual help. I live in an agricultural area in the south of Scotland so these are the questions:

1), If GM food is allowed in England does Scotland have any choice but to follow? (I understand Scotland can say No but I also know that under the Internal Market Act passed last December, the UK Parliament can vote to override any measures taken by Holyrood so I have probably answered my own question).

2), If Scotland says No to GM food is there any way of identifying GM food produced in England but distributed in Scotland?

3), Has Scotland any way of insisting on food labelling identifying it as GM being mandatory in Scotland (I also understand food labelling is devolved, but again the Internal Market Act would give ultimate power to Westminster anyway)?

If all this sounds very formal then the bottom line is simply this: have we and our local food and drink producers here in Dumfries and Galloway and throughout Scotland lost all of the ultimate control over the standards? These are the standards which we offer the world in our distinctive high-end Scottish produce.

I fear the answer is we have lost ultimate control, but would love to hear the facts.

Stuart Campbell, Moffat.

PANDEMICS ARE OUR FAULT

I NOTE Dr Morag McFarlane's Agenda article ("Salute the volunteers who fuel vital research", The Herald, March 5) where states that the "efforts of hardworking scientists and volunteers in clinical trials will bring an end to this challenging way of life that we are facing". When will human beings face up to the fact that we will never rid the world of pandemics, epidemics, disease until we accept that we are causing them with factory farming?

In our efforts to streamline farming practices to produce more meat for more people, we have created conditions which enable animal diseases to spread to humans. Many chickens, for example, only have 15 inches of personal space which enables disease to spread throughout the buildings, and then to humans.

Don't blame the animals that are cruelly treated, blame the people who do it to make more and more profit from sentient creatures.

Margaret Forbes, Kilmacolm.

COVID TEST CENTRE PUZZLE

MOST mornings at various times when I am out for my copy of The Herald I pass a pop-up Covid-19 test centre. It first appeared about eight weeks ago. It is open seven days a week and I have yet to see anyone entering for a test. What I do see is plenty of staff with hi-viz jackets hanging about within the compound. Nine of them one day recently and today I counted 11. Probably more inside the buildings.

Can anyone explain this to me, as I can’t for the life of me see the requirement for so many staff?

Eric Macdonald, Paisley.

LOSING OUT IN POWER STRUGGLE

I FIND it very hard to accept that when there is good news of the wind industry and bumper production on a windy day, we have headline news and articles. When the wind industry fails in calm weather, it is left to DB Watson to inform us and ably give us the figures in the Letters Pages (March 4).

We learned from Vattenfall, a wind farm company, in The Herald on January 29, that the Scottish Government has an "open door policy", whereas he said of England: “It has introduced policy which is quite a barrier to development: The requirement for demonstrable local support of over fifty per cent and demonstrating that your wind farms are captured in local development plans, they’re quite significant hurdles.” Did that not open a few minds in Scotland as to what is going on here and our democratic deficit?

Celia Hobbs, Penicuik.

WHY BURNS' PLANS WENT AGLEY

ONE person badly affected by the Icelandic volcanic eruptions of June 1783 ("Scotland’s deadly ‘Year of Yellow Snow’ in spotlight", The Herald, March 5) was Robert Burns. Having moved to Mossgiel Farm and Mauchline in February 1784, he was full of good intentions about a new start. In his own words: "I read farming books; I calculated crops; I attended markets. But the first year, from unfortunately buying in bad seed, the second from a late harvest, we lost half of our crops."

What Burns did not and could not know was that the main contributing factor to the crop failure was in fact the climate effect of the Icelandic eruption a year earlier. The best-laid schemes would certainly be appropriate here.

Ian Lyell, Mauchline.