Day 256 - 04 Jun 96 - Page 86
1 and that is where diet comes into play.
2
3 I happen to think that the role of diet in this disease
4 process is substantial. It is just a way of -- it is just
5 going to be some more time before we begin to get these
6 relationships straight.
7
8 MR. JUSTICE BELL: The note I have made -- and I would like you
9 to listen carefully, if you will, and see if you want to
10 modify it as the bottom line, as it were -- is that the
11 chance of a high fat diet including animal fats not being
12 causal of cancer is one in 1,000. The cause is all diet
13 rather than other factors, once you have the genetic
14 susceptibility -- which, in fact, everyone has.
15 A. To varying degrees.
16
17 Q. It is not the genes that establish the risk; that is a
18 misperception at this time?
19 A. Yes.
20
21 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Thank you.
22
23 MR. MORRIS: Would you say that those views you just expressed
24 would tend to be the consensus views?
25
26 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I do not think you can usefully ask that.
27 I am interested in the evidence I have in this particular
28 case. You can ask, if you want. I am not going to stop
29 you.
30
31 MR. MORRIS: Would those views be generally accepted, with some
32 people critical; would that be generally accepted, yes or
33 no?
34 A. The report of Doll and Peto is certainly widely known.
35 Their analysis of the causes of disease suggests that two
36 to three per cent of all cancers attributed to the genetic
37 basis. That report is widely accepted, yes. There is a
38 consensus.
39
40 MR. RAMPTON: Can I ask for the date of that report? If it is
41 1975, I know it.
42
43 THE WITNESS: It is 1980.
44
45 MR. RAMPTON: Thank you. I think I know that one.
46
47 THE WITNESS: It was exactly published twice, 1980 and 1981.
48
49 MR. MORRIS: I am a bit conscious of the time. I think we will
50 leave it.
51
52 MS. STEEL: Can I just ask: when you said that it was not the
53 genes which established the risk, it was the factors that
54 allow the expression of the genes that lead to
55 disease -----
56
57 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Let me put it another way, and then you ask
58 your question again, if you want to. As I understand it,
59 you say we all have a genetic propensity to develop cancer?
60 A. And other kinds of diseases, as well.
