Letters

The answer is no

The headline "Fertilizer: Hiding a toxic pollutant?" (SN: 10/16/99, p. 245) was far more inflammatory than your actual article. There is no credible scientific evidence of perchlorate in fertilizers other than Chilean nitrate, a fact that has been known for 20 years. The fertilizer industry is working with federal agencies to reach scientific agreement on the issue. We believe current scientific evidence is not reliable and that a cooperatively developed sampling and analysis protocol will prove that U.S. fertilizer products are not generic carriers of perchlorate. Until such a program proves otherwise, the answer to the question in your headline is a resounding no.

Ron Phillips
The Fertilizer Institute
Washington, D.C.

Which way's up?

In "The strangest home on Earth" (SN: 10/2/99, p. 216), your reference to "the eastern portion of Antarctica" seems strange because when I look at the map, I see just northern and central Antarctica. It also seems strange to speak of "the remote Vostok site," giving the implication that the station run by the United States at the South Pole is therefore less remote.

Jim Wilson
Fairfield, Calif.

The Antarctic continent is usually subdivided into East and West Antarctica, with the Transantarctic Mountains marking the division. Most of East Antarctica falls in the Eastern Hemisphere of the globe. Although Vostok and South Pole stations both lie far from the coast, Vostok is serviced mainly by a once-yearly convoy of tractors that must make a 2-week overland trip. The South Pole station, by contrast, is supported by regular flights from the U.S. McMurdo Base. —R. Monastersky

Oil all over

"Nighttime hormone helps starve cancers" (SN: 10/2/99, p. 221) stated that linoleic acid, the primary fat in corn oil, can fuel the growth of cancer in animals. How many readers are going to throw away their corn oil in favor of some other cooking oil without realizing that linoleic acid is also the primary fat in sunflower, safflower, soy, peanut, cottonseed, and walnut oil? You do a disservice to your readers when you present such chilling information in an incomplete and misleading manner.

Phyllis Eisenstein
Chicago, Ill.

Who came for dinner?

Researchers are bewildered why Neandertals would lovingly bury the dead and yet eat other Neandertals ("Cave finds revive Neandertal cannibalism," SN: 10/2/99, p. 213). What's so bewildering? Isn't it likely that those buried with care were close kin and those eaten were members of rival clans? We've seen parallels among indigenous Homo sapien tribes, even in this century.

Wayne Blizzard
Escondido, Calif.

What evidence is there to suggest who did the feasting? Them or us?

Bud E. Lewis
Jackson, Calif.

It's not clear who feasted. Neither is it clear that there was a distinct difference between "them" and "us." —B. Bower

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