Day 039 - 20 Oct 94 - Page 51


     
     1
     2   MR. MORRIS:  Shall we move on to Monosodium Glutamate?
     3
     4   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.  Can you just call that MSG?
     5
     6   MR. MORRIS:  Yes.  Can you very quickly summarise the case
     7        against MSG?
     8        A.  By comparison with other food additives, reports of
     9        acute adverse intolerance to MSG are more common than for
    10        most other additives.  There have been a few studies which
    11        I have not listed individually but which are referred to by
    12        both the Scientific Committee for Food and JECFA, have been
    13        studies, double-blind studies, some of which have,
    14        apparently, shown an effect and others of which have
    15        apparently not shown any effect.  So, here we have an all
    16        too common situation where we have equivocal and
    17        inconsistent evidence.
    18
    19   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  The parts I had underlined in relation to
    20        direct human evidence are on page 36, the second paragraph,
    21        what JECFA, SCF and FAC have said in the first two lines,
    22        and then the reference to Chinese Restaurant Syndrome.  Are
    23        there other direct human matters?  I cannot see one.
    24        A.  No, the study referred to at the bottom of page 36,
    25        footnote 119, by Tarasoff and Kelly is one of these
    26        attempted double-blind studies.  But, for reasons that
    27        I give on the next page referring to a commentary by
    28        Dr. Adrienne Samuels, I do not know find the Tarasoff and
    29        Kelly study convincing.
    30
    31        I think Samuels has correctly drawn attention to many of
    32        the serious shortcomings in the Tarasoff and Kelly study.
    33        For example, in what was supposed to have been the placebo
    34        or control against which MSG was being compared, included
    35        the artificial sweetener Aspartame, and I believe there is
    36        some important evidence suggesting that Aspartame is itself
    37        not pharmacologically inert.  Therefore, I do not think it
    38        is appropriate to use it as an ingredient in a placebo.
    39        But that is just one of a lengthy list of shortcomings to
    40        which Dr. Samuels draws attention.
    41
    42   MR. MORRIS:  We have Dr. Samuels' letter.  Which document is it?
    43        A.  I had as -----
    44
    45   MS. STEEL:  It is probably just going to be behind the
    46        statement.
    47
    48   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I put it behind.
    49
    50   THE WITNESS:  Will it be in here at all? 
    51 
    52   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  No.  For my own convenience, I have put it 
    53        behind my copy of your statement, Dr. Millstone.
    54
    55   MS. STEEL:   Do you have a copy there?
    56
    57   THE WITNESS:  No, I do not. (Handed).
    58
    59   MR. MORRIS:  Who is Adrienne Samuels?
    60        A.  She is not personally known to me.  I gather from the

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