Day 052 - 21 Nov 94 - Page 36


     
     1        a more recent episode in which your Lordship told the
     2        Defendants before they called, I think it was, Professor
     3        Crawford and certainly before they called Dr. Barnard and,
     4        therefore, necessarily Professor Crawford, that they should
     5        consider very carefully whether they should not get their
     6        witnesses to consider the question of causation.  My Lord,
     7        at the top of page 24 of the same day.
     8
     9   MR. MORRIS:  Is that day 16?
    10
    11   MR. RAMPTON:  It is still day 16.
    12
    13   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  22nd July.
    14
    15   MR. RAMPTON:  This is Ms. Steel in cross-examination of
    16        Professor Wheelock.  She asks at the top of the page, it is
    17        part of a question or it is the second of two questions:
    18        "Is it reasonable for people to give advice that a diet
    19        high in fat and low in fibre has been linked to cancers of
    20        the breast and bowel?"  Answer:  "Well, if during the
    21        course of" -- then your Lordship intervenes:  "Can I just
    22        explain?"  My belief is that your Lordship is addressing
    23        the Defendants.  "I take 'has been linked' to include just
    24        one person saying that for purposes of this question;
    25        whether at the end of the day that is what the leaflet
    26        means is another matter entirely.  But if one person
    27        said: 'Statistically cancer of the bowel is related to
    28        intake of fat or saturated fat', then in ordinary English
    29        you could say that person has linked the one to the other.
    30        Whether that is of any relevance to the meaning of the
    31        leaflet or not is another matter entirely."   Then your
    32        Lordship turns to the witness:  "What is your answer to the
    33        question that has been put by Ms. Steel?"  Answer:
    34         "I really am a little bit confused as to what Ms. Steel
    35        actually wants".
    36
    37        Your Lordship:  "I do not think it helps to press on with
    38        the question.  It seems to me you can ask other witnesses,
    39        if you like, as to just what the evidence is, the totality
    40        of the evidence at the end of the day, and what the leaflet
    41        actually means.  The leaflet goes on to say:  'It is a
    42        medical fact', does it not?  I have to take the whole lot
    43        together; the use of the word 'link', the use of the words
    44        'medical fact' and make what of it I will at the end of
    45        the day".
    46
    47        My Lord, the conclusion for the purpose of this
    48        application, with respect, I draw from those interventions
    49        from your Lordship is this:  As your Lordship has done
    50        really consistently since then -- that may not be the first 
    51        occasion -- your Lordship has indicated to the Defendants 
    52        that what they need to do is to face up to what it is that 
    53        the leaflet may properly be held by your Lordship to mean
    54        at the end of the case, that is to say, that McDonald's
    55        food causes cancer and heart disease in their customers and
    56        with that in mind, not only to guide them in the conduct of
    57        their cross examination, but in the selection of the
    58        evidence which they present to the court.
    59
    60        Those sorts of indications do, in our submission, make it

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