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		Letter to the Editor Leicester Mercury - Wednesday, 26 March 2003 Dear Sir, Pat Dargue makes an important point on the EU's proposals for Horse Passports (letter, 21/3). They will add to the cost of ownership. This will create a special problem for horse charities and donkey sanctuaries, and may even see some forced to close. The irony is that the objective of the proposals is to ensure that horses entering the food chain have not been exposed to medicines which might make their meat dangerous to eat. This is of some importance in those continental countries where horsemeat is eaten, but largely irrelevant in Britain. In any case it should be the responsibility of those who process horsemeat to ensure that the horses they use are safe. It is wholly unreasonable that every horse owner in Britain should be put to inconvenience and expense for the benefit of the continental horse meat trade. In any case, as Pat Dargue rightly points out, the regulations will be difficult to enforce. Responsible owners should not need them, while irresponsible owners will ignore them. Sadly, the same is true of much EU red tape. Law-abiding people are put to unnecessary trouble and cost for little purpose, while irresponsible people - those the regulations are aimed at - flout the rules with impunity. Yours sincerely, Roger Helmer MEP