Day 297 - 08 Nov 96 - Page 13


     
     1
     2   MS. STEEL:   Day 22, page 32.
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     4   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Yes.
     5
     6   MS. STEEL:  The statement I mentioned about diet is an important
     7        contributory factor to cancer and Dr. Arnott saying that it
     8        was a reasonable statement, the quote is from the actual
     9        transcript.  It is important to remember that although DIET
    10        is an important contributory factor to these diseases, it
    11        is not the only one, and it says including cancer.  And he
    12        said that he thought it was a very reasonable thing to say,
    13        and that if this is advice being given to the general
    14        public, it is very sensible advice to give to the general
    15        public.
    16
    17        And he goes on to say, they are saying it is an important
    18        contributory factor to these diseases which are things like
    19        coronary heart disease and obesity and so on, including
    20        cancer, and he said it is a very reasonable position to
    21        take.  That was on day 22, page 31, line 32.
    22
    23        Obviously we consider that this section of the evidence is
    24        the key to it, basically accepting that it is reasonable to
    25        give advice to the general public in these terms about the
    26        links between high fat, low fibre et cetera diet and heart
    27        disease and cancer.
    28
    29        Just some other points that came out of Dr. Arnott's
    30        evidence anyway, he did admit that it is established beyond
    31        any reasonable doubt that the so-called developed western
    32        countries do have a much greater incidence of degenerative
    33        diseases.  That was on day 22, page 34.
    34
    35        He said he was sceptical of population studies as a means
    36        of research because they only gave a broad brush approach,
    37        but he did agree that the correlations for links between
    38        diet and cancer in the studies are very high, with diet
    39        accounting for a perhaps 80 percent of the cancer
    40        incidents. That was on day 22, page 37.  And although he
    41        believed that genetic factors have the strongest causative
    42        links to cancer, he agreed that there was an interplay
    43        between lots of different factors, including diet.  That
    44        was day 22, pages 39 and 43.
    45
    46   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   I would like just to say what is in my mind
    47        about that, and then you or Mr. Morris can say anything and
    48        Mr. Rampton can.  The way I see it at the moment, although
    49        we did not really go into genetics at all, is that what you
    50        have in a certain number of people is a gene mutation which
    51        gives you a facility to develop cancer, or call it a
    52        greater propensity to develop cancer, if you like.
    53
    54        I notice from an article in one newspaper I read earlier
    55        this week that they have just identified one particular
    56        one, which means people have a much higher potential to
    57        develop breast cancer.  The difficulty is in identifying
    58        just which the gene is and where it is.  But that is only
    59        part of the matter.  It may be that without the genetic
    60        mutation you are not going to get cancer however much you

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