BOB GARFIELD: And now for a few of your letters. Dr. James Fitzpatrick wrote in with an objection to our interview with Science Magazine Editor-in-Chief Donald Kennedy. Kennedy said that the National Cancer Institute changed its website to suggest a potential link between abortion and breast cancer, despite clinical evidence to the contrary. Not so, says Dr. Fitzpatrick. "A summary of 27 worldwide studies," he writes, "was published in the NCI's own journal in 1994. It concluded that a young woman who aborts her first pregnancy nearly doubles her lifetime risk of developing breast cancer. There is an ongoing misinformation campaign," he concludes, "though not by the Bush administration."

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Suffice it to say that the alleged breast cancer-abortion link is still being hotly debated. Craig Hanson of Cambridge wrote in with this observation about our interview with Scott Donaton on the Vivendi Universal/GE merger, (quote): "Mr. Donaton suggested (and I'm paraphrasing for lack of a transcript) that 'all the doom-and-gloom-sayers who predicted there would be only 4 or 5 shows to watch by now were wrong, in fact there is more choice.' His proposition can only be seriously considered if you count the entertainment portion of the programming -- he is forgetting the other role of the media which is providing information." And Mr. Hanson points to a recent report on the PBS program "Now," which he says "illustrates that many markets are actually losing their choices for news sources as a result of these mergers."

BOB GARFIELD:Fernando Betelho of New Haven, Connecticut wrote to congratulate us on Dan Shorr's turn as Clint Eastwood in last week's show, but also to suggest that (quote) "Dan keep his day-time job. He does that other job at ATC really well."

BROOKE GLADSTONE:But by far the most mail we received this week was from listeners who were delighted that we're now offering our program for download in the MP3 format. Most of them read like this letter from Arkady Sharkansky of Austin, Texas. "Thank you, thank you, thank you. This is very cool. I love it." Don't you just love techies? Even when they're redundant, they're very concise.

BOB GARFIELD:Please send your reactions, brief or verbose, because after all we do edit, to onthemedia@wnyc.org, and don't forget to tell us where you live and how to pronounce your name. For the aforementioned MP3s, just go to our website at onthemedia.org. [MUSIC]