Day 039 - 20 Oct 94 - Page 21


     
     1
     2   Q.   One further question on Amaranth:  The skin rash that is
     3        noted for Sunset Yellow, is that the same also for
     4        Amaranth?
     5        A.  Yes, I believe it is.  May I just have a brief look?
     6        No, it is not in that study. But, yes, very similar
     7        symptoms are reported.
     8
     9   Q.   Right.
    10        A.  The kinds of symptoms reported are more or less uniform
    11        across the entire group of azo-dyes of which Amaranth,
    12        Tartrazine and Sunset Yellow are examples.
    13
    14   Q.   I think Professor Walker accepted that in any event.
    15        Sodium Nitrite E250 -----
    16
    17   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  This was pleaded as Sodium Nitrate, but it
    18        was decided that it was Sodium Nitrite that was being
    19        attacked and Potassium Nitrate.  In fact, that is what you
    20        have in your statement, is it not?  The point being anyway
    21        that it is the eventual nitrite which, if anything, does
    22        the harm.
    23        A.  Indeed.  Nitrates are used in food in combination with
    24        nitrites to provide a buffer stock, because they decompose
    25        into nitrites.  It is the nitrites which are effective
    26        against botulism and also as preserving the colouring,
    27        providing colouring in food.
    28
    29   MR. MORRIS:  Right.  Now we have a substantial body of pages
    30        here, four pages, on the two, Sodium Nitrite and Potassium
    31        Nitrate.  Do you want to deal with them separately?
    32        A.  No, together, because insofar as Potassium Nitrite --
    33        forgive me; insofar as Potassium Nitrate may constitute a
    34        hazard, it does so when it is reduced to the nitrite; it is
    35        the nitrite radical which appears to be potentially
    36        toxicologically significant.
    37
    38   Q.   What are the intolerance implications first for the
    39        nitrites, if you like?  In our pleadings we had:  "Nitrate
    40        can cause gastroenteritis, vomiting, vertigo, muscular
    41        weakness and irregular pulse".  For Sodium Nitrite:  "...
    42        can cause nausea, vomiting, headaches, deoxygenation of the
    43        blood, low blood pressure, collapsed circulatory system".
    44        A.  I am not sure where to locate the deoxygenation of the
    45        blood under the various categorisations we are offered.
    46        I suspect Professor Walker would put it under his second
    47        category, namely, reactions occurring only at very high
    48        doses.  It certainly only occurs in humans -- sorry, in
    49        adults at very high doses, though there is clear evidence
    50        that children, particularly young infants, are particularly 
    51        susceptible to this.  But the kinds of levels at which 
    52        nitrites and nitrates are used as food additives are 
    53        unlikely to contribute to that problem except in respect of
    54        infants who should not receive these materials at all.
    55
    56   Q.   What age do you categorise infants?
    57        A.  Well, the categorisation used by some official bodies
    58        is three months or under.  There they are drawing on direct
    59        clinical evidence.  Now, my approach to these matters
    60        typically is to allow some margin of safety, and so I would

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