Day 039 - 20 Oct 94 - Page 33


     
     1        A.  Yes, I do.  That is where I distinguish preservatives
     2        from all other additives.  Preservatives clearly have a
     3        function to play in the protection to public health.
     4        Bacterial food poisoning can be very unpleasant.  It can be
     5        seriously debilitating.  It can even be fatal.  Therefore,
     6        a case can be made saying that we need preservatives;
     7        whereas I have yet to see any evidence to suggest that
     8        antioxidants are needed.  I am persuaded that manufacturers
     9        and retailers find antioxidants useful, but I do not think
    10        they are necessary.
    11
    12   Q.   To prolong shelf-life.
    13        A.  To prolong shelf-life, and, therefore, if I were an
    14        official policy adviser or an official policy maker,
    15        I would deem it prudent to withdraw BHA unless and until
    16        convincing evidence of safety becomes available.
    17
    18   MR. MORRIS:  That applies to BHT as well?
    19        A.  It does indeed.
    20
    21   Q.   Do we know that would be particularly -- OK, we will leave
    22        it at that.  Is there any need to look at any further
    23        references?  All I am concerned on this is that we do not
    24        miss out a particular reference.
    25
    26   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What you are being asked is, is there a
    27        reference we should look at which might cast some
    28        particular light on the topic?  That is a general
    29        question.  While we are on BHA and BHT, is there some
    30        particular reference you should refer to, and is there any
    31        other reference other than the ones you have footnoted to
    32        the passages I referred you to which might give us some
    33        guide to direct human evidence?  That is the more specific
    34        question.
    35        A.  OK.  On the latter question, I know of no other
    36        references.  On the former one, I place particular weight
    37        upon the references to the studies which have indicated
    38        that BHA and, for that matter, BHT appear to be animal
    39        carcinogens at a range of doses in a range of species.
    40
    41   Q.   You have stressed that in your comments on both of them.
    42
    43   MR. MORRIS:  Is there a need to look at those studies?  I mean,
    44        I am in the hands of the court here.  Do we want to look at
    45        one of them?
    46
    47   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  No, I think I must leave it to you.  You
    48        clearly do not have it in mind that I must look at this
    49        reference or that reference.  I am not going to stop you
    50        asking Dr. Millstone, but you have asked him more than once 
    51        now.  I will ask him again:  Is there some particular 
    52        reference we should not miss, Dr. Millstone, on 
    53        carcinogenicity?
    54        A.  I think if particular care were to be taken in the
    55        forms of time and scrutinising these references, I would
    56        emphasise the paper by Professor Ito and his colleagues,
    57        which I have given as footnote 46.  There are, in fact, two
    58        papers there both from the Japanese -- sorry, one from the
    59        Japanese Journal of Cancer Research and the Journal of the
    60        National Cancer Institute.

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