Day 297 - 08 Nov 96 - Page 19
1 He referred to the European Union document 'Avoiding
2 Cancer', the European code, on day 30, page 27, and that
3 code, you may remember, said... Well, Europe against
4 Cancer was a campaign to encourage people to take action to
5 reduce the number of deaths from cancer by 15 percent, and
6 countries in the European Community are publicising a
7 10-point code based on current knowledge about prevention
8 and early detection. One of the 10 points, which are
9 entitled 'Firm Guidelines', was that people should cut down
10 on fatty foods, and states it is well known... Sorry, "It
11 is known that in western countries where people usually eat
12 a lot of meat, butter and other dairy products there is a
13 higher risk of breast and bowel cancer, as well as other
14 diseases like coronary heart disease. A sensible diet can
15 reduce this risk."
16
17 It also referred to "eat plenty of fresh fruit and
18 vegetables and other foods containing fibre." It talks
19 about the protective effect of vitamins A and C and fibre,
20 and it said, "Food containing fibre may actually protect
21 against cancer of the bowel."
22
23 Obviously, we would say that if the European Community is
24 putting out leaflets on avoiding cutting down on your risk
25 of cancer with the intention of cutting cancer deaths it
26 must be because they consider there is a very real risk
27 from that type of diet. If people do cut down on those
28 types of foods then the incidence of deaths from cancer
29 will decrease.
30
31 In his statement, Mr. Cannon referred to the
32 recommendations by all bodies concerned with cancer to be
33 consistent with those on heart disease, the advice being to
34 cut down on fat and, in particular, saturated fat. Day 30,
35 page 29. Mr. Cannon agreed that if McDonald's serve a
36 significant proportion of the diet to individuals then they
37 contribute to the general risk. That was day 30, pages 36
38 to 37.
39
40 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Just pause a moment, please. (Pause).
41
42 MS. STEEL: I think he did make the general point that whatever
43 the level of their contribution it was a negative
44 contribution. Mr. Cannon agreed that foods high in fat
45 sugar or salt, or a combination, could reasonably be
46 considered as unhealthy. Day 30, page 40. Agreeing with a
47 quote from Professor Doll, Mr. Cannon stated that as early
48 as 1982 there was worldwide opinion that the type of diet
49 least likely to cause disease would consist of a proportion
50 of calories in wholegrain cereals, vegetables and fruit.
51 That was day 30, page 41.
52
53 Mr. Cannon agreed with the statement that all authoritative
54 reports -- sorry, all authoritative reports have come to
55 the conclusion that there is a causal link between diet and
56 breast and colon cancer and that no reports have said to
57 the contrary. That was day 30, page 44.
58
59 When going through his analysis of a hundred reports, he
60 quoted the following statistics: that eighty five reports
