Day 030 - 03 Oct 94 - Page 68


     
     1        incidence of cardiovascular disease, would they not?
     2        A.  Yes.
     3
     4   Q.   Given those two preliminary considerations what, in your
     5        view, can one say about the existence of a causal
     6        relationship between a diet in animal fat, particularly,
     7        therefore, saturated fat, and cancer of the colon, first
     8        of all?
     9        A.  First of all, colon cancer?
    10
    11   Q.   Yes.
    12        A.  Well, I would say two things following the drift of
    13        your questions.  The evidence would be generally regarded,
    14        including by those that have come to a conclusion, as not
    15        so strong as the evidence on smoking and lung cancer or
    16        fat and saturated fat and heart disease by some degree.
    17        The discussions then would be:  By what degree?  The
    18        additional point (and I think this may be why some of
    19        these, some of this evidence may surprise some people in
    20        court) is that the evidence is less, the evidence that
    21        there is less well known because, and I think obviously
    22        this is a salient point in this country, government in
    23        this country has not got to the point of accepting a
    24        report specifically and solely on diet and cancer which
    25        comes to the conclusions which, if those scientists use
    26        the same evidence as has been used by scientists in other
    27        countries, will conclude there is a causal relationship.
    28
    29        That is why I have used the term "consensus".  I think in
    30        the ordinary sense of the word "consensus" clearly implies
    31         -- "consensus" is not such a strong term as, say,
    32        "universally agreed". A consensory view would allow for
    33        some disagreement which, indeed, there is in the case of
    34        diet and cancer generally and of fat or saturated fat or
    35        animal fat and colon cancer.
    36
    37        On colon cancer specifically, I cannot remember any expert
    38        report on the subject that has regarded the evidence as
    39        insufficient to come to a conclusion.  I believe I am
    40        right in saying that all reports of the kind of status
    41        I have been referring to on diet and colon cancer, would
    42        say that on the evidence it is reasonable to say that
    43        there is a causal connection between fat and colon
    44        cancer.
    45
    46        If they mention animal fat or meat, for example, it would
    47        depend on the nature of the report.  Some are tending to
    48        talk about nutrient, others talk about foods as well.
    49
    50   Q.   Do you distinguish in your own mind, having read much of 
    51        the summary conclusions of the various committees 
    52        throughout the world but not much, as I understand it, in 
    53        the underlying research work, between the possible role of
    54        fat as a cause of colon cancer and the possible role of
    55        fibre, vegetable fibre, as a protective agent against
    56        colon cancer?
    57        A.  Well, there are distinct arguments for each.  Can I
    58        say also that, of course, when we talk about fat being a
    59        cause of colon cancer, that is really shorthand for
    60        talking about fat eaten in excess, as it typically is in

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