In response to Ray Watson, I am neither related to nor know the dietary preferences of the editor ("Stop this veggie propaganda", Mailbox, June 12).

The fact that vegetarians are a minority does not mean they should be ignored. He obviously considered health, ecological and environmental issues, animal welfare and food for the developing world, all of which are addressed by a vegetarian diet, as unimportant.

Mr Watson says that nothing I write "is going to have any impact on us omnivores". I am well into middle-age and have only been a veggie for two years. Information I read about vegetarianism certainly changed my diet.

Mr Watson discredits the "facts" I refer to by doctors, health organisations and scientists but does not supply any "facts" or name any "internationally-recognised and respected scientists" to support his opinions. Does he consider the British Medical Association, the Lancet, World Cancer Research Fund, World Health Organisation (to name a few) as "a very tine few 'learned' people"?

If Mr Watson is open-minded I suggest he reads "The China Study" by T Colin Campbell, which is the most comprehensive study of health and nutrition ever conducted. Dr Campbell was a farmer's son and a meat-eater who, as a result of his research adopted a plant-based diet. Could Mr Watson recommend any publications to support his point of view?

Vegetarianism challenges the status quo and is therefore controversial. Dr Campbell writes: "Sustaining controversy as a means of discrediting findings that cause economic or social discomfort is one of the greatest sins of science."

Elizabeth Allison, Aylestone.