Day 039 - 20 Oct 94 - Page 34
1
2 MS. STEEL: That is not 46; that should be the Scientific
3 Committee.
4 A. Not in the text in front of me that I have here. It is
5 -- sorry, 56 at the bottom of page 21.
6
7 MR. MORRIS: What may be particularly helpful is if we look at
8 56, if it is particularly helpful. Can we just refer to
9 the most significant section of that?
10 A. Well, what I would say about it is, notwithstanding
11 some adverse comments to the contrary, it was in its day
12 (and still is) recognised by most people as a very well
13 conducted study.
14
15 Q. Can you just refer us to a particular paragraph which sums
16 up the conclusions?
17 A. In respect of that study or BHA as a whole?
18
19 Q. The thing is, if we are going to rely on a reference we
20 have to quote some conclusion from it and then it stands as
21 evidence; if we do not, it will not.
22 A. From the paper or from my text?
23
24 Q. No, from the paper.
25 A. Well, I have here the paper by Ito and his colleagues
26 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, February
27 1983. This is reference 56, and the abstract summarises
28 the position very straightforwardly.
29
30 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I will just read that.
31 A. May I draw attention on an aspect of it though?
32
33 Q. Yes, but after I have read it. Yes?
34 A. In some of the official reports by the Committee on
35 Toxicity, the Scientific Committee for Food and the World
36 Health Organisation, UN FAO, Joint Expert Committee, this
37 study is characterised as having provided evidence that BHA
38 causes tumours when fed at two per cent. Indeed, it does,
39 as if there were not also evidence of adverse effects at
40 0.5 per cent, as Professor Ito and his colleagues say:
41 "Even the lower doses increased the incidence of
42 hyperplasia in the forestomach which is considered
43 associated with neoplasia", which I take to mean that signs
44 of early development ----.
45
46 Q. Where are you looking at now?
47 A. This is in the abstract, the third sentence of the
48 abstract, starting four lines down.
49
50 Q. There are no words "even the lower doses"; it is both "the
51 higher and the lower doses".
52 A. Yes, but often this study is reported as if effects
53 were found only at the higher dose, but not at the lower
54 dose. What I am trying to emphasise is that early signs of
55 development of tumours were found even at the lower dose.
56
57 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
58
59 MR. MORRIS: I do not think there is any need to look at similar
60 studies. Shall we move on to hyperactivity of these
