Day 254 - 22 May 96 - Page 39


     
     1        agree with this statement with reference to the UK:  "On
     2        the basis of the evidence available from the experimental
     3        and epidemiological studies it appears that a reduction in
     4        total fat intake may decrease the risk of developing
     5        cancer."  Do you agree with that statement?
     6        A.  Specifically with regard to breast and colorectal
     7        cancer or cancer in general?
     8
     9   Q.   Cancer in general.  Perhaps answer it for both?
    10        A.  I think the operative word there is 'may', and I think
    11        it may do but I think the honest answer is that we do not
    12        know.  Because, as we have already discussed this morning,
    13        there are conflicting pieces of evidence with respect to
    14        this such as countries like Spain and Greece where they
    15        have a high fat intake, and you can argue about the
    16        relative importance of olive oil and so on, but they could
    17        argue, "Why should we reduce our fat intake when the
    18        incidence of breast and colorectal cancer in our countries
    19        is low".
    20
    21   Q.   Right.  The answer that you have given, because you said
    22        specifically with regard to breast and colorectal cancer or
    23        cancer in general -- which was your answer?
    24        A.  I am referring to cancer in general, but equally what
    25        I say does apply to cancers of the breast and large bowel,
    26        and that is why I say the operative word is 'may' in the
    27        statement that you read out to me.
    28
    29   Q.   Is it not correct that since you last gave your evidence
    30        the World Health Organisation international expert
    31        consultation made that very same statement, or at
    32        least ----
    33
    34   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  The statement which you made I have no
    35        trouble with whatsoever, provided one bears in on the word
    36        'may'.  I do not think I have heard a witness who has
    37        disagreed with that on behalf of the Plaintiffs.  The same
    38        applies to heart disease as well.
    39
    40   MS. STEEL:   There are some schools of thought we went into this
    41        morning that apparently think that age of graduation or
    42        your education may have an effect on whether or not you get
    43        breast cancer, but these authoritative bodies are not
    44        making any such recommendations with regard to what age you
    45        should complete your high school graduation or anything
    46        like that are they?
    47        A.  No, basically the reason that people have looked at
    48        that particular point that you are making is that there has
    49        been a suggestion that, you know, social status may be
    50        influential in the development of certain forms of cancer, 
    51        and certainly diseases in general, not necessarily only 
    52        cancer. 
    53
    54        So, in the analysis such as the one we talked about this
    55        morning, what they were simply trying to do was to exclude
    56        those sorts of factors which have been described in other
    57        studies as possibly having a bearing on the incidence of
    58        cancer, and trying to exclude them from the analysis so
    59        that they could look specifically at fat as the only
    60        variable in terms of cancer incidence.

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