Aisling Irwin's article (THES, April 12) gave the misleading impression that the talks hosted by Qinetics International were set up to counteract the Tucson "Towards the Science of Consciousness" conference. As three of the speakers mentioned, we would like to refute this impression in the strongest possible terms.

As far as we are aware, the series of talks has no connection whatsoever with the Tucson conference. They extend over two months and only coincidentally include the period of the conference.

We would like to stress that the negative views attributed to the organiser of the series, Ijaz Rasool, about the Tucson conference are not shared by us. We regard the research presented at Tucson as being of the utmost importance.

At long last, the scientific study of consciousness is becoming respectable - and while research into psychical and mystical experiences still remains controversial, it is at least a step in the right direction.

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Bernard Carr, Tony Cornell, Arthur Ellison Address withheld I would like to emphasise that Qinetics International's current series of lectures are being held independently of the Tucson conference.

If any comparison were to be made then it would be fair to say that the series has been organised to complement the kind of matters discussed in Arizona.

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Any views expressed by me were mine alone and are not necessarily shared by any of the speakers involved in the lecture series, The public needs to be made aware that efforts are being made by all kinds of researchers and that every view derived from studies will be of importance when attempting to find the meaning of something so personal as an indiviual's consciousness.

Ijaz Rasool Qinetics International