Enough's enough, Mr Horne.

The hunger strike and regular condition checks reporting you at death's door have grabbed the headlines and focused the eyes of the nation on your cause.

To continue with the strike now would be deliberate, pointless suicide. It would serve no purpose other than to create a backlash among supporters which would inevitably lead to some form of violence.

You have said you do not want to die nor do you want to harm other people. Well then, call it off.

The time is right for talking. Certainly the Government has made its stance crystal clear, it will not bow down to blackmail. Martyrdom will not open the door to useful dialogue.

There has already been enough suffering. Procedures at York District Hospital have been badly disrupted. Staff are suffering stress from the constant presence of animal rights activists, taxi drivers at the weekend boycotted the vicinity for a while, which meant that visitors, perhaps even patients, were unable to get to the hospital.

Continuing the hunger strike, further disruption at York District Hospital and real or threatened aggression by supporters will now only harden resolve against the animal rights cause.

Call it off before it is too late - for you, for any victim of the threatened backlash and for useful discussions to resolve the prickly issue of animal experimentation.

see NEWS 'Hunger strike hits York cancer haven'

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.