From the dairy farmers who raised their cattle no differently from pigs, to the dilution of the milk produced, to the addition of industrial chemicals, the entire production chain was poisoned.

There was no enforcement of standards, or even an attempt at enforcement at any point of the milk chain. This is where the big difference is between successful space walks and life on everyday terra firma on the mainland - enforcement.

One of these days, and I hope in my lifetime, the leaders in Beijing will realise that it is just as important to have enforcement of standards and laws in everyday life as it is for major events that demonstrate China's powers, like the Olympics and spacewalks.

This can only happen if you have an independent judiciary and law enforcement and complete transparency in government.

Francis Lim, Ma Wan

We can learn from Confucius

This year marked the 30th anniversary of the introduction of China's ground-breaking economic reforms. We also witnessed Shenzhou VII's blast-off and a successful Olympic Games. And yet there are still fundamental problems in Chinese society.

The tainted milk scandal affected milk products sold in countries throughout the world.

While China does have an amazing exporting capacity, it still clearly has a problem with its inspection system and this must be rectified. It will be unforgivable if we see these errors being repeated.

I am also concerned about the businessmen behind the scandal who allowed this to happen and put innocent babies at risk.

The International Confucius Cultural Festival was celebrated on the mainland last month.

Having a conscience is a core value of Confucianism.

It should not be the case that the more prosperous a country becomes, the more immoral its citizens turn out to be. Besides strengthening food safety inspections, we have to try and raise the ethical and moral standards of our citizens through education.

Si Ka-hang, Tung Chung

Dog-tired at customs

For pet dog travel Hong Kong's import regulations are similar to those of developed countries of comparable rabies risk status.

However, there is a major difference in the implementation of these regulations.

While pet dogs leaving Hong Kong can enter these countries as checked baggage, on return they must enter as cargo.

Cargo incurs not only freight that is about five times the charge for excess baggage, but also complicated clearing procedures.

One has to go to the airlines' office in the cargo terminal to process the airway bill and take the processed bill to a booth in the godown to wait for collection of the pet. Then one takes the crate with the dog inside, to the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department's office for inspection and finally to the customs office for cargo clearance.

In contrast, my experiences of visiting Canada as a tourist with my pet dog were entirely free of bureaucratic complexities.

I collected my dog at the baggage collection area in the passenger terminal and then cleared through customs as usual. Crossing the US-Canada border was equally convenient; just the standard questions and paperwork checking.

My dog has been a Hong Kong resident for eight years. On returning home to Hong Kong, why must he be subject to so much inconvenience which he did not have to go through when entering Canada and the US as a tourist?

Consider also the requirement for a veterinarian in the exporting country to certify that a returning dog is free of 'any quarantine restrictions' and 'clinical signs of infectious disease'.

When other required documents are in place, these redundant formalities are practically meaningless.

Hiking in Hong Kong's nature trails with my dog, I have come across tourists who told me that they would like to bring their dogs along but, because of Hong Kong's import procedures, would rather take them to North America or Europe where society and government attitudes towards dogs are more friendly.

It is time we rationalised our administrative procedures for pet dog travel.

Pierce Lam, Central

Inflation really hurting elderly

Given the financial problems we are going through which has resulted in rising inflation, most elderly people are finding it difficult to cope with daily expenditure.

Many of them are unwell and have to spend much of their limited financial assets on medical care. The HK$250 annual health vouchers do not really help.

Those old folk who are forgetful, might even lose the vouchers.

I would like to see the government doing more to help them.

I also think we, as individuals can do our bit by making the elderly realise they matter to us.

We need to appreciate that in their working lives they contributed to the success story that is Hong Kong.

Thanks to them this is a prosperous society.

Young people can learn from the elderly as they have had long lives and have had to deal with challenges that youths will have to face when they grow up. I think too often the younger generation tends to marginalise the elderly. We should not take them for granted.

Young people enjoy comprehensive health care and free education.

By comparison, the elderly get an allowance that is insufficient to meet their needs.

Li Yan-ying, Tuen Mun

HK maybe not right for race

There have been suggestions that Hong Kong missed a great opportunity to host a Formula One race for the first time and it has been pointed out that the Singapore Grand Prix was very successful.

I am not so sure that we did miss a rare chance and doubt if Hong Kong was ever being considered to be part of the F1 circuit?

Most of the tracks in F1 are purpose-built.

This is safer for the drivers and that is important, because driver safety is of paramount importance.

There are just a few F1 tracks which take place in city streets, such as Monaco and now Singapore. The Singapore government must be praised for its boldness and determination to host the race at night.

Obviously the organisers saw it as an excellent opportunity to showcase their city to the world and this helps maximise their tourist potential. It takes a visionary government to come forward with such an idea and we do not have such a government in Hong Kong.

Therefore if we wanted to get an F1 race in Hong Kong, any campaign would need to get the backing of a wealthy individual.

But even before we would have to raise the question I posed - is Hong Kong a suitable place to host such a race?

H. C. Bee, Kowloon Tong