Day 038 - 19 Oct 94 - Page 47


     
     1        certainly not in time for tomorrow.  I mean, as I have
     2        indicated, I am not even sure at which dilution these
     3        products are currently being marketed.  That is certainly
     4        information I can obtain, but I do not have it at my
     5        fingertips.
     6
     7   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.
     8
     9   MR. MORRIS:  Just on Sunset Yellow, there is also a problem that
    10        a particular test -- is this a test that you mentioned
    11        before, the three per cent and five per cent of Sunset
    12        Yellow?  On page 10 you say that -- sorry, I think you have
    13        dealt with that, have you not, the background of tumours in
    14        the control?
    15        A.  Was rather high and for that reason is the Committee on
    16        Toxicity disregarded.  What they did not do is ask for
    17        further studies at lower doses in larger groups, which
    18        I would have thought would be an appropriate way of trying
    19        to clarifying the issue.
    20
    21   Q.   What about the 1989 physician?  Do you want to say the
    22        significance of that?
    23        A.  That is just one fragment I found in the scientific
    24        literature of a blind, double-blind challenge in which it
    25        has been reported that in a particular individual Sunset
    26        Yellow triggered acute gastroenteritis.  That is a
    27        relatively rare report for food colourings but not entirely
    28        unheard of.
    29
    30   Q.   Is it generally accepted that Sunset Yellow does cause
    31        allergies?
    32        A.  Put it this way, while some of the representatives of
    33        companies that both manufacture and utilise Sunset Yellow
    34        contest that claim, it is a claim which has been accepted
    35        by the Committee on Toxicity, by the Scientific Committee
    36        for Food and by the Joint Expert Committee on Food
    37        Additives, yes.
    38
    39        The issue is not -- the dispute within the profession is
    40        not, does Sunset Yellow cause acute intolerant reactions,
    41        but at which frequency does that occur?
    42
    43   Q.   Also, presumably, how important do we treat those allergies
    44        as something to be avoided?
    45        A.  Yes.
    46
    47   Q.   Sometimes I am going to put to you a question that I want a
    48        "yes" or "no" answer so it is on the record.  In your
    49        opinion, Sunset Yellow causes allergies; is that correct?
    50        A.  In my opinion, the evidence shows that Sunset Yellow 
    51        does cause some symptoms of acute intolerance which may 
    52        include allergic reactions but may include reactions not 
    53        mediated by the immunological system.
    54
    55   Q.   And hyperactivity as well?
    56        A.  I think there is strong evidence of an anecdotal nature
    57        that Sunset Yellow is one of the compounds which does
    58        provoke hyperactive reactions, particularly in sensitive
    59        children.
    60

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