Letter: Pro-what?

From Clive Greedus

I was amused by correspondent Jerry Mack’s proposition that an acorn is just an oak at one stage of its life cycle and that likewise an embryo is a human at one stage of its life cycle and should therefore be considered as an actual child or person rather than just as a potential one (16 February, p 23).

Using this logic an acorn could not be swept from the road without contravening tree preservation laws. Manufacturers of fruit-and-nut chocolate bars would be condemned for causing massive deforestation.

The comparison should surely be between an embryo and an unripened acorn taken from the stalk. The latter cannot mature into a tree, nor can an embryo become a person outside a womb.

Avenel, Victoria, Australia

Ilford, Essex, UK