Population

James F. Smith’s article about Antarctica (“Struggling to Protect ‘The Ice,’ ” Column One, April 5) prompted me to do some thinking. Taking the primary definition of cancer as the uncontrolled proliferation of cells, the catastrophic explosion of the human population looks very much the same.

We already are on our way to destroying planet Earth. If we reach other planets in the solar system, we undoubtedly will destroy them too.

It’s not a happy thought, but perhaps we humans are a malignancy that eventually will metastasize throughout the universe.

DESMOND LEIGH-HUNT

Santa Barbara