Day 039 - 20 Oct 94 - Page 30
1 The strongest resistance to the worldwide ban on these
2 compounds comes from, I believe, the former Soviet Union
3 where they consume very large amounts of fat in their diet
4 and their storage and stock control methods are rather poor
5 and where rancidity may be a problem. I understand that
6 for thousands of years it has been the practice in Tibet
7 and Nepal and other adjacent Himalayan countries
8 specifically to leave their fats and butters to go rancid
9 because, for reasons that escape me, they seem to like the
10 flavour. But there is no evidence in those communities
11 that the rancidity has posed any health hazard for those
12 communities.
13
14 Q. Do you want to concentrate on the specific evidence,
15 strongest and most significant evidence in your report?
16
17 MR. JUSTICE BELL: That really is a very general question. What
18 are you aiming at? What do you really want him to do? Do
19 you have some point in mind?
20
21 MR. MORRIS: I have not really. I have eight pages of text
22 here. I am trying to get through it in the shortest time
23 as possible.
24
25 MR. JUSTICE BELL: My fear is that if you ask him that kind of
26 question -----
27
28 MR. MORRIS: It will take longer?
29
30 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
31
32 THE WITNESS: I will endeavour not to ramble but simply
33 highlight the fact that I believe the most serious evidence
34 that leads me to doubt the safety of BHA concerns its
35 carcinogenicity to laboratory animals.
36
37 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You say that both in ----?
38 A. In several species.
39
40 Q. -- relation to BHA and BHT?
41 A. Yes, in several species, at not just relatively high
42 levels at two per cent in the diet, but even at relatively
43 low levels.
44
45 MR. MORRIS: Can I ask a question? Why has it not been banned
46 in the USA?
47 A. That is a question I am myself very interested in. As
48 I think I report at the top of page 25, the Food and Drug
49 Administration have a working party or have commissioned a
50 working party of a federation of American societies for
51 experimental biology. I first wrote this document in
52 I think the autumn of last year, when I wrote that it was
53 due to be completed in the spring of this year. We are now
54 in the Autumn of 1994 and it is still not yet completed.
55 It is not entirely unusual for these things to take longer
56 than initially projected.
57
58 So, we are awaiting the outcome of that. Doubtless, the
59 FDA will issue a judgment on BHA once that study is
60 available. What they will typically do is they will issue
