CONTROVERSY OVER AUTO SAFETY

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

Mr. W. B. Murphy, president of the Campbell Soup Company and chairman of the Business Council, was quoted in the New York times of May 14 as saying, in regard to the current interest in auto safety, "It's all of the same order as the hula hoop--a fad. Six months from now, we'll probably be on another kick." Your editorial of May 13 on highway safety reflects a similar vein of though. In addition, you have chosen to label Ralph Nader, one of the protagonists, as "flamboyant" and suggest that the American public will soon tire of his effort.

Unless I and some other research workers in this field are badly misinformed, the fifty thousand deaths which will occur this year from motor vehicle accidents are a catastrophe which might have been prevented many years ago, had the public been around. The questions which Mr. Nader explores in his book, Unsafe at Any Speed, are vital ones which we as a public have refused to consider until now. Your editorial reflects an apparent failure on your part to acquaint yourself with Nader's published work; should you do so, you will find that it is well researched and documented, and hardly flamboyant. Your shock at his comments on the Rolls-Royce should not obscure your appreciation for his contributions regarding other automobiles and their defects.

The destruction of sacred cows has some historic precedent in this country. I am sure you will agree that the contributions made by Stiffens, Sinclair, and LaFollette persist though the public outcry and rage may have subsided. Robert C. Buxbaum, M.D.