Day 052 - 21 Nov 94 - Page 47
1 McDonald's on this discrete area of the case if you
2 establish link (whatever that means) rather than cause.
3 That is all. Concentrate upon the evidence of the witness
4 because, at the end of the day, I am going to have to hear
5 submissions from both sides about meaning as well as what
6 the evidence actually points to so far as diet and, for
7 instance, cancer is concerned. You very sensibly indicated
8 you were going to rephrase the question, so let us see if
9 we can find it again. It is a entirely a matter for you,
10 because it is your question and it certainly was not my
11 intention to distract you. What I would suggest is that
12 the evidence given by other witnesses that there is no
13 compelling evidence that diet is a cause of cancer and you
14 want to ask Professor Crawford what he has to say about
15 that, is that right?" Ms. Steel: "Roughly, except that not
16 just the cause." Your Lordship said: "You ask your own
17 question. I have suggested you do not use proof because
18 your own witness in his own statement has said when we get
19 to biology because there is no absolute proof of anything.
20 That is why for 'proof' I substituted 'compelling evidence'
21 which I anticipate Professor Crawford might be happier
22 with, I can see he is nodding, and substitute the word
23 cause or link".
24
25 Thank you Mrs. Brinley-Codd.
26
27 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Then there is the question at the top of the
28 page. I am only saying this because they do not have the
29 transcript in front of them.
30
31 MR. RAMPTON: I am not trying to cut it short at all.
32
33 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No, because Ms. Steel does then ask the
34 question in the light of the -----
35
36 MR. RAMPTON: And she gets the answer she is hoping for.
37 Ms. Steel: "What would you say to respond to the suggestion
38 that there is no compelling that cancer was either caused
39 or promoted by aspects of diet?" Answer by Professor
40 Crawford: "That statement is clearly wrong. The
41 experimental evidence is quite firm on the promotary
42 effects of cancer, particularly total fat, and also on the
43 protective effects of N-3 fatty acids." Then there is a
44 pretty long bit which, perhaps, I need not read.
45
46 Actually he did say, and I ought to read it, that "The
47 modern western diet as we perceive it is, I think, you
48 could cause the word 'causative' of the promotion of
49 cancer" which represents, I hope, the common sense
50 concession (if it be a concession) that I have just made.
51
52 MR. JUSTICE BELL: "It does not cause the cancer. I do not
53 think we could say it causes the cancer, but once the
54 cancer is established and you have he genetic
55 susceptibility to it in place, then I think the diet that
56 you eat matters a very great deal".
57
58 MR. RAMPTON: One sees there, and it is the animal experimental
59 evidence as he later explains, that leads him to that
60 conclusion. I dare say that it was in the light of those
