Day 297 - 08 Nov 96 - Page 31
1 recognised that fried meat contains carcinogenic
2 heterocyclic amines.
3
4 MR JUSTICE BELL: I will not try and get that down. Give me the
5 reference for it.
6
7 MS. STEEL: Day 34, page 38. It is H-E-T-E-R-O-C-Y-C-L-I-C and
8 another word, A-M-I-N-E-S.
9
10 The author of the report considered that a preference for
11 brown meat can be related to colorectal cancer.
12 Dr. Barnard also referred to the National Cancer Institute
13 booklet which stated that considerable evidence linked a
14 high fat diet to a high incidence of colon cancer. Day 34,
15 page 41. And in a National Research Council publication in
16 1982 it was accepted that experimental evidence was
17 suggestive for a causal link between high fat intake and
18 cancer. That was day 34, page 46.
19
20 Dr. Barnard agreed with the conclusions of the World Health
21 Organisation report in 1990. I will not go through them
22 again, because we have been through them about three times
23 with all the various other witnesses who agreed with the
24 conclusions, but the reference for that is day 34, pages 49
25 to 52.
26
27 In cross-examination, Dr. Barnard stated that 35 to 50
28 percent of all cancers were due to diet, and that was
29 responsible for more cancer deaths than genetics. That was
30 day 35, page 10. He agreed that there was a role for diet
31 in both initiation and promotion of cancer though he
32 thought that promotion was probably more decisive, but, I
33 mean, that does not particularly matter to us anyway. That
34 was day 35, page 14. That was colon cancer.
35
36 Dr. Barnard's interpretation of the document from the
37 National Cancer Institute in 1991 was that there was
38 abundant evidence to lead to the conclusion that a diet
39 high in fat and meat, low in fibre, contributes to a risk
40 of colon cancer, and the document asserts a cause and
41 effect relationship, the only uncertainty being the sort of
42 exact mechanism of how diet increased the risk. He
43 believed that he was supported by the Surgeon General's
44 interpretation -----
45
46 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Do you have a reference for that?
47
48 MS. STEEL: Sorry, day 35, page 18.
49
50 MR JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
51
52 MS. STEEL: He believed he was supported by the Surgeon
53 General's interpretation of the same document. That was
54 day 35, page 19, and he refers to that report saying that
55 the best estimate for factors for cancer under diet, the
56 best estimate, was 35 percent. When he was cross-examined
57 about the use of the words such as 'may' and 'might' in
58 relation to the strength of the link between diet and
59 cancer, Dr. Barnard used as an analogy the research on
60 smoking and lung cancer and said that smoking may cause
