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From Andro Linklater

Your article on alternatives to antibiotics in the control of bacteria raises a question of wide significance (29 November, p 34).

In effect, the approach accepts the existence of potentially harmful organisms and, rather than attempting to exterminate them, seeks to discourage their activity in specific locations or to reduce their virulence.

This bears a strong resemblance to the unexpected finding earlier last month by the UK government’s trials assessing the effectiveness of exterminating badgers as a means of controlling tuberculosis in cattle. The trials showed that exterminating colonies in areas where TB is rife has the paradoxical effect of increasing badger activity, and that control might best be established by non-lethal means.

A species’ paramount need to survive requires its members to find ways of resisting extermination at any cost. In less threatening situations the same need requires it to conserve energy, making it amenable to gentler controls. Does this suggest an evolutionary basis for non-violence as the most effective response to threats at any level?

Markbeech, Kent, UK