Day 033 - 10 Oct 94 - Page 23


     
     1        interested if they knew that these risks were there.  But
     2        it is quite well known certainly in the United States, and
     3        in our medical libraries there are numerous reports (at
     4        least one of which I have cited here) and in that report
     5        by Geerhertz in 1991 additional studies are also cited.
     6
     7        I might also briefly mention that at the John Hopkins
     8        University in Baltimore, Maryland, which is a well-known
     9        medical centre and the site of a great deal of cancer
    10        research, researchers are investigating factors that help
    11        to eliminate carcinogens from the body.  Certain
    12        vegetables seem to have constituents that can do that.
    13
    14        Without getting overly detailed, when researchers have
    15        wanted to present carcinogens or to look at the body's
    16        capacity to eliminate carcinogens, one of the standard
    17        carcinogens that is sometimes used is that which is
    18        presented in cooked meat.  So, it is something that is
    19        quite well known, quite well accepted and is believed to
    20        be one of many mechanisms by which a diet that is high in
    21        fat, but particularly animal fat and meats, may encourage
    22        the development of cancer of the colon.
    23
    24   Q.   Just very briefly, you refer on that page to pancreatic
    25        cancer has been linked to consumption of meat, National
    26        Research Council 1982.  We can come to that reference if
    27        necessary later, but just explain that a little bit.
    28        A.  That was a reference to international associations
    29        where a high consumption of meat is simply associated with
    30        a high incidence of pancreatic cancer.
    31
    32   MR. MORRIS:  Moving on -----
    33
    34   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  If we are going to move on, I would like to
    35        ask a question about page 8 of your first statement,
    36        Dr. Barnard.  You said in the second paragraph:  "When the
    37        past diets of cancer patients are studied, it is clear
    38        that meat-based diets are linked to colon cancer".  Can
    39        I pose the same kind of question to you:  How strong is
    40        the link or association there, cause and effect, even if
    41        the exact mechanism is not known or not as strong as that?
    42        A.  That alone -- those would be case-control studies,
    43        they are one line of evidence that contributes to what
    44        ultimately may establish cause and effect, but those alone
    45        would not.
    46
    47   Q.   Yes.  I may well be taking the sentence out of context
    48        because you have related it to a particular paper or line
    49        of enquiry.  But bearing in mind all the lines of enquiry
    50        and all the papers you have read about, what do you mean 
    51        by meat-based diets being linked to colon cancer?  I know 
    52        I am taking the sentence out of context. 
    53        A.  Yes.
    54
    55   Q.   But if we start from an averment which, I understand, you
    56        are prepared to make without relating it to a specific
    57        paper which has followed a particular line of enquiry,
    58        "Meat-based diets are linked to colon cancer or diets
    59        high in fat and low in fibre are linked to colon cancer",
    60        what does "linked" mean there?

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