Day 030 - 03 Oct 94 - Page 27
1 State for Scotland.
2
3 So, in the UK we have what might be considered an
4 interesting situation from the constitutional point of
5 view, in that Scotland has accepted, officially accepted,
6 the position on diet and cancer. The UK, as a whole, has
7 not yet done so. However, rather as I was mentioning
8 before with WHO, when the UK government reckons that an
9 issue to do with diet and public health is of such public
10 interest it must take a view, then it will commission the
11 committee on medical aspects and food policy, the
12 so-called COMA Committee, to review the evidence and to
13 produce a report. That is now in train.
14
15 There is now a COMA Committee on diet and cancer which is
16 now sitting. But, going back to your original question,
17 if the question is: Is the link between diet and cancer
18 in a way specified, generally accepted within the expert
19 committee, that is to say, within health professionals and
20 the scientific research community, the answer is, yes.
21
22 If question is, is it accepted by government, the answer
23 is, yes, in the US, and, yes, generally speaking, in
24 Europe and Scotland. It is not yet accepted by the
25 government in this country. That is partly what is meant
26 by saying that the evidence on diet and cancer is not yet
27 generally so well known as the evidence on diet and
28 cardiovascular disease.
29
30 Q. But the UK government is part of the European Union. We
31 will refer to some of your references when we have gone
32 through the statement, but the European Union has a
33 position; is that correct?
34 A. Indeed, the UK is a member of the European Union, as
35 we all know, yes. It may be germane to mention that the
36 Europe Against Cancer Initiative, which is EU backed, has
37 a week every year, and I think for the first time the
38 Europe Against Cancer Initiative next week is specifically
39 on the issue of diet and cancer. So, if the court wished
40 to know what the European Union position was as
41 promulgated in the United Kingdom on diet and cancer
42 formally, it would have to wait until next week.
43
44 However, I can confidently say that the position will be
45 what is stated in the European Code against Cancer Ten
46 Commandments, which, I believe, have already been read out
47 in court.
48
49 Q. We will come to them specifically. It may be useful to
50 look at that now. There is a file behind you.
51
52 MS. STEEL: Document No. 59.
53
54 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Find the bundle with document No. 59.
55
56 THE WITNESS: Yes, I have it.
57
58 MR. MORRIS: Would you like to say what document that is?
59 A. "Avoiding Cancer, the European Code". Then it says
60 underneath: "Europe against Cancer is the campaign to
