Day 035 - 12 Oct 94 - Page 34


     
     1        habits and industrial procedures, so long as we are
     2        careful to distinguish between those recommendations that
     3        are based on established knowledge and those that are our
     4        best guesses and subject to revision."
     5
     6        Dr. Barnard, those are, are they not, very guarded and
     7        measured words by Sir Richard Doll?  He absolutely
     8        refuses, does he not, to draw a conclusion of causality
     9        from the evidence which he is considering?
    10        A.  From such evidence that he has brought to bear in that
    11        paragraph, yes.
    12
    13   Q.   Must we, as ignorant laymen in this court, give weight to
    14        what Sir Richard Doll was saying in 1988 if we want to
    15        know what was the proper scientific opinion at that time?
    16        A.  Dr. Doll's opinion is certainly very important and is
    17         -- would be well respected.  May I take a minute and read
    18        this and see if I have any further comment that would be
    19        helpful to you?
    20
    21   Q.   Yes, of course.  Always say that you want further time
    22        before I go on to something else.
    23        A.  Again, it is perhaps worth pointing out that Dr. Doll,
    24        like virtually all other authorities, and everyone has a
    25        different estimation of the weight of the evidence, I have
    26        my own estimation as well, but I think where virtually all
    27        authorities would agree, as he has observed in this
    28        paragraph, is that there are links between dietary factors
    29        and cancer.  In addition, these links are of a causal
    30        nature.
    31
    32        By causal nature, I am not suggesting that diet causes
    33        cancer, but that there is -- links exist and the links are
    34        of a causal nature meaning, or, at least, that there is
    35        very substantial evidence of that, but that additional
    36        investigation is under way.
    37
    38   Q.   Can we agree, perhaps, and maybe by that route save a huge
    39        amount of time, Dr. Barnard, I do not know, in the sense
    40        that (and this is an example) diet may play a role in
    41        creating people who are obese, it probably does play a
    42        role in the creation of obesity.  It may be accepted that
    43        it, therefore, contributes by that route to the incidence
    44        of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, might it?
    45        A.  Yes.
    46
    47   Q.   Do you go any further than that in relation to diet and
    48        cancer?
    49        A.  There are many other mechanisms aside from the one
    50        that you have just mentioned that would link diet with 
    51        cancer. 
    52 
    53   Q.   There are many other mechanisms that would link obesity
    54        with diabetes, are there not?
    55        A.  There are other mechanisms, yes.
    56
    57   Q.   Yes.  So you do not assert that it is possible to say,
    58        even on our present state of knowledge in 1994, that a
    59        diet high-in-fat and low-in-fibre causes cancer of the
    60        colon and breast in human beings; is that right?

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