Day 039 - 20 Oct 94 - Page 52
1 discussion she is a toxicologist, but more than that, I do
2 not know. I was more struck by the content of her
3 arguments than her personal identity.
4
5 Q. Would you like to highlight the main points?
6 A. Well, it seems to me that if you are going to do a
7 proper study seeking to establish whether or not a
8 significant proportion of the population may be intolerant
9 to MSG, you need a proper random cross-section of the
10 population; whereas, as Dr. Samuels points out at the
11 bottom paragraph of the first page, there are many groups
12 who one might have a prime facie reason for thinking that
13 may react adversely to MSG were systematically excluded
14 from the study.
15
16 MR. MORRIS: That is people susceptible to allergies,
17 presumably?
18 A. Yes, they were questioned about asthma allergic
19 syndromes, asthma insensitivity, and so on. She says
20 here: "This screening procedure would have effectively
21 eliminated anyone who expressed the sympton known as
22 detoxicity who have been eliminated to anyone sensitive to
23 MSG".
24
25 Q. Maybe I can save time on this. So far as I know, Professor
26 Walker did not refer to the Tarasoff and Kelly reference.
27 Therefore, in effect, it is not actually evidence in the
28 case.
29
30 MR. RAMPTON: Dear me. No, my Lord. That is absolutely not the
31 case. I did not refer Professor Walker to many of his
32 references. What he said was -- I do not know what I am
33 reading from -- "Control studies with monosodium glutamate
34 itself have discounted that," "that" being Chinese
35 Restaurant Syndrome, and the Tarasoff study was one of the
36 studies in his references.
37
38 MR. JUSTICE BELL: He did actually mention Tarasoff.
39
40 MR. RAMPTON: It may have been mentioned.
41
42 MR. MORRIS: What I do not understand is how that study can be
43 evidence if Professor Walker does not refer to it, but that
44 we have to refer to studies if we want to back up any
45 statement of Dr. Millstone. I cannot grasp what the
46 difference is here.
47
48 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I have to assess the weight of the evidence
49 at the end of the day. In doing so, I look at the
50 particular expertise of the witness. I look at the extent
51 to which it may be supported by particular references,
52 I look at the strength of the argument and I come to my own
53 conclusion. It is a composite thing. It is not a question
54 of saying: "This is evidence and that is not". It is a
55 question at the end of the day, having heard what you have
56 to say to me, as to what weight I attach to it.
57
58 If I can give an example away from this witness and
59 Professor Walker, it might be said, I do not know, that
60 Dr. Barnard was not a medical specialist in the fields he
