WITH regard to the story “Staff celebrate 100 years of care” (Daily Echo, November 13), while I admire the wonderful work of our medical professionals and the occupational therapists, I was saddened to see that you highlighted the fact that the hospital staff celebrated their 100 years of occupational therapy work with the release of 100 balloons.

I am sure that all your readers would be horrified at throwing litter out of cars, yet how is a balloon release different?

Perhaps because it spread far and wide out of sight? Cows in fields are choked by plastic waste and Chinese lanterns.

My concern, as a marine scientist, is the impact of plastic in the sea on seabirds and in particular marine turtles. The poor turtles feed on jellyfish and frequently mistake our floating plastic litter for food which simply clogs up their digestive system and they invariably die.

Would people celebrating anniversaries, grand openings or other special events be equally happy to publicly sacrifice a cow or turtle?

Dr Ken Collins

Senior research fellow and diving officer ocean and earth science, University of Southampton