Day 256 - 04 Jun 96 - Page 32
1 A. To eliminate them and also to discover new causes.
2
3 Q. Like the study which identified the number of telegraph
4 poles on the roads as being associated with some form of
5 degenerative disease?
6 A. There is no biological plausibility for that, of
7 course.
8
9 Q. Yes. Can I ask you then whether you would agree with these
10 propositions that I am going to put to you. I hope they
11 are not controversial. Leaving aside dietary
12 considerations, and as a preliminary, do you include the
13 consumption of alcohol as a dietary factor or not?
14 A. Usually it is included, yes.
15
16 Q. It is?
17 A. Because it contains energy.
18
19 Q. Yes. Then I will include that single dietary factor, if
20 I may. For cancers of all kinds, generally, obviously some
21 more than others. Can we identify smoking as a risk
22 factor?
23 A. Yes.
24
25 Q. Alcohol consumption?
26 A. Yes.
27
28 Q. A lack of physical activity or exercise?
29 A. To some modest extent, yes.
30
31 Q. Can I pause there. Is the lack of physical activity a risk
32 factor only because it may lead to on obesity and
33 overweight, or does physical activity have a beneficial
34 effect in itself in the metabolism or the physiology of
35 human beings?
36 A. Both.
37
38 Q. Both, yes. Next, what I might call invasion by viruses or
39 bacteria. Is that a factor which is not a risk factor in
40 the causation of aetiology of cancer?
41 A. Yes.
42
43 Q. Atmospheric pollution?
44 A. That one is rather doubtful and the evidence is not
45 terribly supportive.
46
47 Q. Radiation?
48 A. Again, a very few number of cases perhaps that relate
49 to that, at least in the usual levels of exposure.
50
51 Q. Inhalation of blue asbestos?
52 A. Again, there is a very specific kind of cancer for
53 those who are heavily exposed and, again, the total
54 equation may be extremely modest and rare.
55
56 Q. You mentioned yourself not long ago earlier this morning
57 stress, work stress. Has that been identified as a risk
58 factor?
59 A. That is more anecdotal but there are so many claims
60 about stressed individuals being more susceptible to
