Day 038 - 19 Oct 94 - Page 26


     
     1        A.  That will be at issue here are amongst those suspected
     2        of provoking acute reactions of intolerance.
     3
     4   Q.   I only ask the question because I think I am going to need
     5        some help at some stage, since all (or nearly all) these
     6        additives have been very widely used for a very long period
     7        of time, as to what actual evidence we do have of adverse
     8        reaction and, if so, what adverse reaction to them.
     9
    10   MS. STEEL:   We were going to come on to the specifics anyway.
    11
    12   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Very well.
    13
    14   MS. STEEL:   I think Professor Walker claimed that the problems
    15        of intolerance such as allergic reactions are not
    16        life-threatening; is that something you would agree with?
    17        A.  Not stated quite as baldly as that.  I think one can
    18        fairly say that many of them are not life-threatening.
    19        Eczema skin eruption may be unpleasant and itchy, but is
    20        not in itself life-threatening.  I would not, however,
    21        agree that intolerant reactions are never
    22        life-threatening.  I can think of a very small number of
    23        cases where I believe an intolerant reaction has been or
    24        may have been life-threatening.  I am thinking at the
    25        moment in particular of a very sad case.
    26
    27   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  When you say "intolerant reactions", do you
    28        mean reactions which do not affect -- cannot be shown to
    29        affect the immune system?
    30        A.  No, that is not quite how I use the term.  Effects that
    31        can be shown to affect the immune system are called
    32        allergic reactions, but intolerant reactions are a slightly
    33        broader categorisation, including allergic reactions and
    34        other acute reactions not mediated ----
    35
    36   Q.   Intolerance is an omnibus term, is it?
    37        A.  Yes, including allergic reactions, which is a slightly
    38        broader categorisation.
    39
    40   Q.   You got as far as saying:  "I would not, however, agree
    41        that intolerant reactions are never life-threatening"; you
    42        could think of a very small number of cases?
    43        A.  Yes.  There was a tragic case a year or two ago of a
    44        young boy whose name, I believe, was Michael Beddows.  He
    45        had been identified by his parents and his doctors as
    46        suffering acute hyperactive reaction to some food
    47        additives, and his diet was under control and he was
    48        behaving normally.  But on one occasion he was
    49        inadvertently given some sweets containing some artificial
    50        colours and, I believe, included Amaranth.  Quite 
    51        uncharacteristically the boy then ran out in the road and 
    52        was knocked over and killed. 
    53
    54        Certainly at the inquest I know his parents claimed that
    55        consumption of those additives, particularly the
    56        colourings, were a significant contributory factor to their
    57        son's death.
    58
    59        I am also aware of one or two cases where people have
    60        reported, what I take to be strong circumstantial evidence,

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