EVERY WOMAN'S DILEMMA CONGRATULATIONS FOR PRESENTING THE crucial and complex topic of estrogen therapy [COVER STORY, June 26]. It is an issue that directly affects more than half the world's population. How does a woman decide what path to take in a sea of changing and conflicting information? Evidence strongly indicates a longer disease-free life-span with sustained independence in women on estrogen-replacement therapy compared with those who do not take estrogen. It seems there is an egg-size risk (breast cancer, uterine cancer) compared with a watermelon-size benefit (less heart disease, less disabling osteoporosis). One should never take a medication that has theoretical benefit in the future if it decreases the quality of life in the present. But seeing a hunched-over, frail woman shuffling behind a walker has to stir the thought, What would her life be like had she been on estrogen the past 20-plus years? RICKI POLLYCOVE, M.D. San Francisco A MAJOR DISSERVICE HAS BEEN DONE TO the women of this country. The article on estrogen fed the cancer fear in women. Your report was sensationalistic. HALINA WICZYK, M.D. Springfield, Massachusetts

WHY DO THE MEDICAL ESTABLISHMENT and our culture think every woman wants to look younger than she is and have a menstrual period forever? I'll be happy to take estrogen as soon as they come up with a pill that makes flabby, wrinkled, balding men over 50 look younger too. MEREDITH SMALL Ithaca, New York

AREN'T WE REALLY TALKING ABOUT QUALITY of life vs. quantity of life? My aunt is in her 80s, I am in my 50s. She dances; I run--on estrogen. JILL SWEITZER Orinda, California

I THINK I'LL LIVE WITH THE WRINKLES. BEVERLY WALTERS New York City

I SEE APPROXIMATELY 25 WOMEN EVERY day who are 50 or older. The difference between women on long-term hormone-replacement therapy and those who are not on it is generally quite striking. If selected properly for family history and certain other cancer risks, patients on HRT can expect a much fuller, happier and healthier life. Those who say menopause is "natural" are entirely misinformed. It is much more natural to take hormones. As for the contention that there are financial incentives for doctors prescribing hormones, this is utter bunk. BRIAN PECK, M.D. Waterbury, Connecticut

THERE ARE MYRIAD WAYS TO GET AROUND the estrogen question. A woman can use herbs, vitamins and a positive mental at titude. A woman of my age (40) cannot remain ignorant of the "horrors" that lie ahead. But I wear my vivid shock of silver hair front and center. I survey my body with honest appraisal and admit that I don't look like I used to. And though faced with incontrovertible evidence that I have become "a woman of a certain age," I wouldn't be younger for anything or anyone. I am proud of what the years have made me, and that includes looking younger than my age without the help of surgery or drugs. JOELLYN AUKLANDUS Marietta, Georgia

SUCCESS IN THE GARDEN

YES, GARDEN DESIGN MAGAZINE IS THE most upscale garden life-style publication in the U.S. [LIVING, June 19], and we have indeed been leading affluent boomers into this great passion. However, our circulation in not 50,000, as you stated but 175,000, and will shortly reach 200,000. That's not bad after only 14 months and at $5 a copy. Also, the median household income of our readers is not $71,000; it is $88,000, one of the most impressive incomes in magazine publishing. JOE ARMSTRONG, Publisher Garden Design New York City

WHAT DOES TV DO TO KIDS?

IN YOUR ARTICLE ON THE CONCERNS about what children watch on the tube [TELEVISION, June 26], you failed to include a kid's point of view. The world has changed a lot since the invention of television. Do you adults really want to block out everything you don't want us to see and then shove us out the door when we're 18? You can't hide the bad parts of life from us forever; we will find out in the end. Kids can get violence from TV, but they can get exposed to it at school too, where kids are bullied every day. Shows can help them see that the bad guy doesn't always win. LIZ KIERNAN, age 12 Greenwood, Colorado

WE UNPLUGGED OUR CABLE, AND LOVE it. The house is quiet, and everyone is reading more. Our six-year-old daughter watches a rented movie now and then, and never even asks if she can watch TV. BRUCE WACKERNAGEL Montague, Michigan

MY ONLY QUIBBLE WITH NEWTON MINOW is that he still refers to TV programming as a "wasteland." Better to describe it as a huge landfill. Seal it, sod it over, and start again from scratch. LINCOLN G. HUNTER Jupiter, Florida

ANONYMOUS E-MAIL

THE ABILITY TO SEND ELECTRONIC MESSAGES on the Internet using fake names [TECHNOLOGY, June 26] has implications for anyone hoping to do serious business on the Internet. The privacy and integrity of any electronic information are only as good as the checks and balances that are in place on those data. FRANK PRAGER Dorsey, Illinois

AT THE END OF YOUR LETTERS COLUMN, you say letters may be sent via America Online. But what about an E-mail address for those of us on other services? RAYMOND DEMERS Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Mail can be sent to TIME via the Internet at this address: Timeletter@aol.com