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I cannot comment on the artistic merit of Lucy Hibburd's design for new postage stamps ("GM licked", May 28).

But they certainly will do nothing to raise awareness of genetic modification. If this had been her goal, she might well have shown healthy cotton bolls in China, potatoes been grown without being attacked by the Colorado beetle or potato blight, soya beans being grown showing a "no till" strategy, which helps to preserve moisture in the soil, and maize producing its own insecticide thus reducing the need for chemical sprays.

I can only hope that she will use her ?4,000 travel award to visit China, Argentina, Canada, India and the US to raise her own awareness of genetic modification.

Alan D. B. Malcolm
Institute of Biology London