Document ka60YjQVyLkbrDJ7ypQrdwnkn

P )rtion not murder To the Editor ' Amidst all the controversy on the meaning of abortion, it is important to note that there is a very real difference between a human embryo and.a human being. Anyone who witnessed the death of a loved one knows that it is the consciousness of that person that has given life and that it is the consciousness of that person that leaves when death occurs. After death the body is still present; consciousness is not. Birth is similar, but reversed. Conscious ness is not present until me embryo is fully . developed, (that is, at-me time of birth, shortly before birth or shortly'{after birth. This is because there isjno nrasl-far human consciousness to .be ^reseHn .^vhile . the physical' body; in.*' ut|roV islf developing. Abortion is hot a form of murder. Rathei1 it .'prevents the . process of`-bringing a new person into the world. Prevention is signifi cantly different from murder. - In a world were thousands, even millions, of children are daily victims of starvation, violence, torture and abuse, one wishes that those devoted to the "right to life" would channel their-protective and humanitarian instincts into saving the real child victims of this world and give up their mistaken and self hteous fight against abortion. ROXANNE L.NAGORKA Albany Our purpose is peace To the Editor: Amen to Norman J. Gendron's letter, "Cause of our woes," in The Times Union on Jan. 13. Man inherited the earth, blessed with Letters to the Editor The Times Union Box 15000 Albany, N.Y. 12212 j 1 I j Brief letters will be edited least, although all letters are subject to editing for taste and accuracy., Include daytime phone number. Only letters written specifically to The TimesUnion will be used -- and only if the writer's name can also be published.. Reviewer responds To the Editor: This is in response to Nancy Wilder's critique of my "The Heart of the Country" book review, wherein she accused me of "callous disclosure" of the book's ending. Having reviewed books for this paper for the past three years, I am well aware of literary criticism's "cardinal rule" regarding not giving away the "denouement." Had Wilder read the book before terming my final paragraph "careless," she would have realized that my disclosure of the narrators's refusal of marriage proposal was incidental to the book's climax -- hardly tantamount to "(stealing) the expected reward." An asbestos question To the Editor: , . " - >,. ,s The federal and state governments"have - '4! determined that airborne asbestos.,is'.a.J - carcinogenic, and we taxpayers are spending millions of dollars to remove it from our schools, prisons and government, offices. .' Asbestos is classified, as a hazardous sub-! -* stance and cannot be removed except by trained, licensed handlers; Asbestos, waste xi .J cannot be disposed of in normal landfills, but " must be shipped hundreds of miles to special;,-J disposal sites. _ j--;-'* In view.of this, I was amazed to read the, : 1 s legal notice in the Jan. 16 Times Union which . * states that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has made a determination that the discharge of 2.65 tons : .per year of asbestos to the atmosphere from ;;.f- the Beridix plant in Green Island will not have a "significant adverse environmental - impact. Just how much asbestos does EnCon .vi feel that Bendix . can' send into that great > , landfill in the'sky without impairing our health? - .. MARVIN I. HONIG \ 1 Albany ' '! Obituary unjust To the Editor: The John Donohue family and countless others who are dear loyal friends of the late Sen. Lloyd Paterson felt your obituary of Dec. 28 was unjust and below the level of journalism expected from our Times Union. Nothing in your obituary gave the beloved T.lovd Paterson anv reooemtinn fnr the HWBUI0005304