Day 039 - 20 Oct 94 - Page 43
1 because they are mentioned twice in the footnotes.
2 A. Yes, OK. In the 1983 paper?
3
4 MS. STEEL: Is 111.
5 A. Yes, halfway down page 94.
6
7 MR. MORRIS: Hang on a second. I just want to make sure we have
8 all the same paper. 1983: "Molecular weight distribution
9 and hydrolysis behaviour of Carrageenans"?
10 A. Yes.
11
12 Q. Ekstrom?
13 A. Ekstrom. Yes. Page 94 the last page of this article.
14
15 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Are you in 112 now?
16
17 MS. STEEL: 111.
18
19 MR. JUSTICE BELL: So that is the 1983 one, is it?
20 A. Yes, on the final page of that paper in the penultimate
21 paragraph halfway down, I will read, if I may, a couple of
22 sentences: "The pH", that is the acidity, "in the gastric
23 tract can vary considerably, as can the time of residence",
24 that is to say, how long the material remains in the gut or
25 the stomach, "depending upon the amount, type, and water
26 content of the ingested food-stuffs".
27
28 If I may just interject, this accounts for the variety of
29 conditions that were used in the test. Then the key
30 sentence is: "The formation of undesirable fragments of
31 low molecular weight from well-defined material of high
32 molecular weight may therefore vary, but is likely to occur
33 during normal conditions".
34
35 Then in the next paper where they look at -- Ekstrom by
36 himself has published this paper, 85 in Carbohydrate
37 Research, he has looked at a quite specific kind of
38 Carrageenan and estimated the rate of degradation under a
39 range of conditions.
40
41 Perhaps the key sentences are given in the discussion on
42 page 288. The key sentences are the final two of that
43 paragraph: "Thus, the acidity and the rate of passage
44 through the stomach will determine the degree of
45 degradation of Carrageenan. The possible toxicological
46 implications of the low-molecular-weight fragments present
47 either in the food-grade Carrageenans or formed by the
48 digestion should be taken into account when evaluating the
49 health-risks of these food additives".
50
51 I interpret that to mean that his evidence implies that we
52 cannot be confident that merely requiring the food industry
53 to confine its use of Carrageenan to well-defined material
54 of high molecular weight will be sufficient to ensure that
55 degraded Carrageenan of a potentially toxicologically
56 significant kind will not be formed within the human
57 digestive tract.
58
59 MR. MORRIS: Do you want to refer us to 115 as well? Watt and
60 Marcus, "Harmful Effects of Carrageenan Fed to Animals"?
