Day 107 - 24 Mar 95 - Page 53


     
     1   Q.   Well, tell us, for example, about the effect of gastric
     2        acid?
     3        A.  Significant.
     4
     5   Q.   It is significant?
     6        A.  Yes.
     7
     8   Q.   Do we have any immune mechanisms within our gut or
     9        bloodstream which help us to combat what otherwise might be
    10        a case of food poisoning?
    11        A.  That is arguable.  There is an antibody IGA which is
    12        believed to have an immune response effect.  It is somewhat
    13        of a contested issue.
    14
    15   Q.   Leaving on one side then pathogens such as E.coli 0157: H7
    16        which you say may not be dose related for the onset of
    17        illness, leaving that on one side, I think that is what you
    18        told us, is it not?
    19        A.  No.  It is not true to say I said that.  I said there
    20        is a dose response.
    21
    22   Q.   But you say the dosage may be quite low?
    23        A.  That is the indication, yes.
    24
    25   Q.   I am sorry I did not get that quite right.  But leaving
    26        that on one side, I think you have told us, and we can find
    27        it elsewhere stated in these papers, that very large doses
    28        of, for example, salmonella are required before an ordinary
    29        person will become ill?
    30        A.  In the ordinary sense, yes, indeed.
    31
    32   Q.   We know that it may affect young people, young children and
    33        old people with low dosages; there is evidence of that?
    34        A.  I think the low dose phenomenon is more related to the
    35        type of food than it is the type of person, frankly.
    36
    37   Q.   You propose, I think you proposed before the adjournment
    38        today, that the sort of dosages which are necessary to
    39        produce a case of food poisoning in the ordinary healthy
    40        person, whether we are talking about salmonella is
    41        something in the order of 100,000 or a million upwards; is
    42        that right?
    43        A.  Yes, 100,000 to a hundred million is taken to be the
    44        levels.
    45
    46   Q.   The chances are then that if I get a dosage somewhat less
    47        than that, my body is going to be able to cope with it one
    48        way or another?
    49        A.  Yes.
    50 
    51   Q.   Can I read on?  I am sorry to have gone off at, not a 
    52        tangent but another course just then.  You together write: 
    53        "Of course not all bacteria are harmful.  Within the gut
    54        of man and chickens salmonella, listeria and campylobacter
    55        live happily and harmoniously under firm biological
    56        control.  It is only when we eat food on which bacteria
    57        have multiplied dramatically that we are are likely to be
    58        made ill".
    59        A.  This is true.
    60

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