DEAR SIR:

This is a letter I did not want to write, but your actions leave me no choice. I understand, that as editor, it is your right to edit letters, as you did mine, by editing out a section on the connection between non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and glyphosate. However, I do not believe you have the right to edit a sentence and by doing so, change its intent.

My letter was in response to Liam Dunne (IFJ 18 November), where he accused me of using “feelings” to determine my voting intentions on glyphosate. In my reply I carefully constructed the last sentence to read “I believe and, yes, I still feel I made the best decision”. However, you edited the two words “I believe” out of the sentence, which changes the intent and meaning and in doing so gives validation to Mr Dunne’s assertions.

Any letter writer to the Irish Farmers Journal should be assured that their sentences will not be edited in a way which alters the clear intent of the writer, otherwise, it is not a letters page, just an extension of editorial policy.