Day 053 - 22 Nov 94 - Page 33
1
2 MR. RAMPTON: I am afraid, Mr. Morris -----
3
4 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I would like you to explain, Mr. Rampton.
5 You can point out to me where it says that, because at 18
6 you pose a question: "Is there, in fact, any credible or
7 reliable scientific evidence of a causal relationship
8 between, on the one hand, and first, heart disease"; and
9 then in the next part of your opening you say: "The
10 Plaintiffs accept (and have always accepted) that there is
11 a recognised association between a diet which is high in
12 fat and salt and heart disease." It does not say
13 "causal". Then, at the end: "But the Plaintiffs do not
14 accept that there is any respectable body of scientific
15 opinion or evidence to suggest a causal relationship
16 between such a diet and any form of cancer or diabetes."
17
18 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, precisely.
19
20 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You may say that we can infer from
21 that -----
22
23 MR. RAMPTON: Well, one must infer from that. I could not
24 possibly argue otherwise. If I have said the dispute, so
25 far as causation is concerned, concerns cancer and not
26 heart disease, particularly if one reads the next paragraph
27 as well, where I am talking about association between
28 cancer and diet, and I focus again -----
29
30 MR. JUSTICE BELL: But it is inference; it is not expressly
31 said, is it?
32
33 MR. RAMPTON: Leaving aside all the other arguments -- which,
34 frankly, mean that this question of heart disease is a
35 complete red herring -- anybody who thought that it was
36 part of my case that the association between heart disease
37 and diet is not a causal one would expect me to call
38 evidence to that effect; and I expressly disavowed my
39 intention to do so.
40
41 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I must say, Mr. Rampton, I had not understood
42 at that stage that there was a categoric admission of the
43 causal relationship between diet and heart disease. If one
44 goes over the page, you said: "Second, the Plaintiff's
45 experts say first one thing" -----
46
47 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, I am talking there about the relationship
48 between cancer and diabetes.
49
50 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It says: "... irresponsible to propose a
51 causal relationship between any of those diseases." "Any
52 of those diseases" might be thought to include heart
53 disease, as well as diabetes.
54
55 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, with respect, not, in the light of what
56 I have earlier said; it could not be so. It must mean
57 certain forms of cancer and diabetes.
58
59 MR. JUSTICE BELL: That is not how I understood it.
60
