Day 039 - 20 Oct 94 - Page 58


     
     1   MR. MORRIS:  It is point 6 in the text.  It is the second page
     2        of the text.
     3        A.  Which is the fourth page of the document taken as a
     4        whole.  Yes, that does suggest that, indeed, the evidence
     5        -- yes, the studies were carried out, some studies carried
     6        out on Potassium Bromate conducted in Japan between 1982
     7        and 1987.
     8
     9   Q.   Is there any particular relevance?
    10        A.  I think it seems -----
    11
    12   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It supports your chronology?
    13        A.  Yes.  Since Potassium Bromate has been withdrawn from
    14        use and no one is contesting that it is a genotoxic
    15        carcinogen, and no one is contesting that small residues
    16        were present, one has to conclude that, given it is a
    17        genotoxic carcinogen, in so far as it was ingested with
    18        baked products prior to its being banned, that consumption
    19        may have put the health of consumers at risk.  Doubtless,
    20        we are all included in that because it was very widely used
    21        throughout the baking industry.
    22
    23   MR. MORRIS:  It is a fact, is it, that any genotoxic carcinogen,
    24        one molecule can potentially cause cancer?
    25        A.  That is the assumption upon which pretty much all
    26        toxicologists currently operate.  That is certainly the
    27        assumption with which I operate.
    28
    29   Q.   I think that leaves Potassium Bromate.  We have not got the
    30        report, have we, from New Zealand about people dying after
    31        eating contaminated sugar?
    32        A.  I do not believe I have.
    33
    34   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  That sounds like a most unfortunate mishap.
    35        A.  Contamination.
    36
    37   MR. MORRIS:  OK.  Styrene is the last.
    38
    39   THE WITNESS:  I do not have the material on styrene here.
    40        I have it in my briefcase.
    41
    42   Q.   I think to be helpful, Professor Walker accepted --
    43        I cannot find his exact words -- that styrene is possibly
    44        carcinogenic in humans and that styrene oxide is more
    45        hazardous.  I think those were the words he used; I may be
    46        corrected.  Could you give us a quick summary on styrene
    47        and its implications in this case?
    48        A.  Let me be very brief.  As I indicated on the fax that
    49        I sent to you earlier this week, I have not had time to
    50        scrutinize this compound in great detail, but I have 
    51        obtained just two documents which are the JECFA, Joint 
    52        Expert Committee Evaluation in 1984, in which it seemed to 
    53        me the key sentence is on page 172, where they state that
    54        styrene is metabolized by the mixed function oxidase system
    55        to styrene-7, 8-oxide.  This occurs not only in the liver
    56        but in a number of other tissues and types and organs.
    57        "But" instead of "by" in that sentence.  I then obtained
    58        ----
    59
    60   Q.   You are quoting directly from your statement?

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