Day 030 - 03 Oct 94 - Page 31


     
     1        that disease or a particular item of food you are eating
     2        then and then increase the disease, the answer basically
     3        is, no, and the analogy I draw there is with cigarette
     4        smoking.  It is now stated by government that smoking
     5        causes cancer.  But you could argue, and if any cigarette
     6        company was foolish enough to try a court case on this,
     7        they might argue that that is a misleading statement
     8        because, of course, it is not -- it is not a reasonable
     9        statement to say that smoking one cigarette causes lung
    10        cancer in the sense that smoking one cigarette is going to
    11        doom you to death from lung cancer.
    12
    13        That, of course, is not what is meant by the statement.
    14        What is meant by the statement "smoking causes cancer",
    15        lung cancer in particular, is that regular smoking over a
    16        regular period, over a substantial period of time
    17        increases your risk -- increases the population's risk of
    18        lung cancer, and, other things being equal, will increase
    19        an individual's chances of lung cancer.
    20
    21        The reason I am using the phrase "other things being
    22        equal" bears on another point which I think has been heard
    23        in evidence here, which is the genetic aspect of
    24        diseases.  Again, my view here is also pretty simple
    25        minded.  I think on the whole describing diseases of the
    26        type that have been mentioned in court today as genetic is
    27        misleading.  What is true, of course, is that we are all
    28        born different; we are all born more or less vulnerable to
    29        different diseases.  So I, eating the same diet as you --
    30        let us suppose we do -- may eventually die of diabetes;
    31        you may die from colon cancer; and Mr. Rampton might die
    32        aged 85 in good health of old age because he is
    33        genetically tougher than we are.  But that does not mean
    34        to say those diseases are genetic.
    35
    36        What it means is that the genetic predisposition, to use a
    37        slightly technical term, is unmasked by living in an
    38        inappropriate way, either by living a generally
    39        inappropriate lifestyle or, in this case, by eating an
    40        unhealthy diet.
    41
    42   Q.   You then go on to say:  "It is more accurate to say that
    43        regular smoking", for example, "increases the risk of
    44        cancer" rather than the cause of cancer?
    45        A.  Yes, what I am saying, that is true.  Indeed, the
    46        government's view was to use those sorts of phrases about
    47        smoking and lung cancer hitherto.  The government is now
    48        prepared to use a much clearer statement which you could
    49        argue was misleading.
    50 
    51   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What is the statement which is on cigarette 
    52        packets now? 
    53        A.  I think there have always been a series of statements,
    54        but one of the statements -----
    55
    56   Q.   They have developed and become stronger?
    57        A.  Yes, they have become stronger over the years.
    58
    59   Q.   Can anyone remember -----
    60

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