Day 030 - 03 Oct 94 - Page 31
1 that disease or a particular item of food you are eating
2 then and then increase the disease, the answer basically
3 is, no, and the analogy I draw there is with cigarette
4 smoking. It is now stated by government that smoking
5 causes cancer. But you could argue, and if any cigarette
6 company was foolish enough to try a court case on this,
7 they might argue that that is a misleading statement
8 because, of course, it is not -- it is not a reasonable
9 statement to say that smoking one cigarette causes lung
10 cancer in the sense that smoking one cigarette is going to
11 doom you to death from lung cancer.
12
13 That, of course, is not what is meant by the statement.
14 What is meant by the statement "smoking causes cancer",
15 lung cancer in particular, is that regular smoking over a
16 regular period, over a substantial period of time
17 increases your risk -- increases the population's risk of
18 lung cancer, and, other things being equal, will increase
19 an individual's chances of lung cancer.
20
21 The reason I am using the phrase "other things being
22 equal" bears on another point which I think has been heard
23 in evidence here, which is the genetic aspect of
24 diseases. Again, my view here is also pretty simple
25 minded. I think on the whole describing diseases of the
26 type that have been mentioned in court today as genetic is
27 misleading. What is true, of course, is that we are all
28 born different; we are all born more or less vulnerable to
29 different diseases. So I, eating the same diet as you --
30 let us suppose we do -- may eventually die of diabetes;
31 you may die from colon cancer; and Mr. Rampton might die
32 aged 85 in good health of old age because he is
33 genetically tougher than we are. But that does not mean
34 to say those diseases are genetic.
35
36 What it means is that the genetic predisposition, to use a
37 slightly technical term, is unmasked by living in an
38 inappropriate way, either by living a generally
39 inappropriate lifestyle or, in this case, by eating an
40 unhealthy diet.
41
42 Q. You then go on to say: "It is more accurate to say that
43 regular smoking", for example, "increases the risk of
44 cancer" rather than the cause of cancer?
45 A. Yes, what I am saying, that is true. Indeed, the
46 government's view was to use those sorts of phrases about
47 smoking and lung cancer hitherto. The government is now
48 prepared to use a much clearer statement which you could
49 argue was misleading.
50
51 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What is the statement which is on cigarette
52 packets now?
53 A. I think there have always been a series of statements,
54 but one of the statements -----
55
56 Q. They have developed and become stronger?
57 A. Yes, they have become stronger over the years.
58
59 Q. Can anyone remember -----
60
